Off the wire
• Chinese investment in Australia growing and diversifying: report  • Icebergs put Antarctic monitoring program at risk: New Zealand scientists  • Australia risks credit downgrade if restraint not shown in election cycle: Aussie lender  • New Zealand gov't announces review of "tax haven" trust rules  • 3rd LD-Writethru-China Focus: China's March prices indicate firmer ground for recovery  • Real Madrid look for special nigth in Bernabeu against Wolfsburg  • Wolfsburg: Via hell into football' s heaven  • Backgrounder: Fire accidents in India in recent years  • Cambodia hopes China continues discharging water to drought-hit Mekong River countries  • Xinhua Insight: Slogans need to be updated  
You are here: 　 Home

Tourist arrivals in Feb up 20.4 pct in Philippines

Xinhua, April 11, 2016 Adjust font size:

Tourist arrivals for the month of February 2016 hit 549,725 visitors, up 20.42 percent from 2015, the Philippine Tourism Department announced Monday.

The Department cited this achievement as the highest growth rate and the biggest volume of visitor arrivals during the 62 months under the Aquino Administration.

"The biggest change during this Administration is that we now have the Filipino people more enthusiastic about tourism itself. And the growth that we see today is precisely the result of our people's renewed confidence. We, as a country, believe that we can deliver an experience to tourists that is more fun because we allow visitors to take part in our joy. And the whole world is as convinced that more people should visit and revisit the Philippines," said Tourism Secretary Ramon R. Jimenez Jr.

January arrivals also increased by 13.17 percent placing the number of inbound visitors during the first 2 months of 2016 at 1,091,983 or a 16.71 percent growth from the same period in 2015.

By regional grouping, East Asia is the country's biggest source of arrivals with 565,971, constituting more than half of the total visitor volume.

S.Korea continues to supply the biggest arrivals to the country with a total of 284,763 arrivals. This market accounted for 26.08 percent which is more than one fourth of the total arrivals.

China has the biggest growth of 107.88 percent from its arrivals of 62,976 in 2015 to 130,916 this year.

Another high growth market is China's Taiwan which posted an increase of 30.89 percent.

The United States of America ranked as the 2nd visitor-generating market with 155, 796 visitors, constituting 14.27 percent of the total and recording a 9.54 percent increase from its arrivals of 142,226 in the same period of 2015.

China which provided 130,916 visitors secured the 3rd spot, with a 11.99 percent share to the total. Japan followed by contributing 92,531 visitors, comprising 8.47 percent of the total inbound traffic.

The 5th major market was Australia with 43,712 arrivals, comprising 4 percent of the total. Rounding up the top ten visitor markets are Canada with 36,773 arrivals, China's Taiwan with 35,344 arrivals, Singapore with 28,376 arrivals, United Kingdom with 28,238 arrivals, and Malaysia with 23,990 arrivals.

Countries which also posted substantial growth in inbound traffic to the Philippines in January and February 2016 include France with 12,502, Spain with 5,092 arrivals Sweden with 7,073 arrivals, Indonesia with 8,824 arrivals, Switzerland with 6,494 arrivals, Netherlands with 6,049 arrivals, and New Zealand with 3,294 arrivals. Endit