Philippines’ tourism footfall reaches all-time high

Bernadette Romulo Puyat, Secretary, Philippines Tourism 

As per the statistics of the Philippines Department of Tourism (DOT), foreign visitor arrivals reached an all-time high of 3.7 million for the first half of 2018.

In a statement, the DOT said inbound tourists from January to June this year rose by 10.4 per cent when compared to the 3.3 million arrivals recorded in the same period in 2017.

Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo Puyat said “Our continuous marketing promotions, belligerent actions to create new air routes and develop new tourism products, travel facilitation, and confidence in tourism investments boosted the industry and resulted in this outstanding performance,”

During June, 528,747 tourists arrived in the Philippines, 11.35 per cent more than the arrivals during the same month last year. DOT is anticipating 7.5 million tourist arrivals by the end of this year.

“We are actually on track. We are halfway into the year and we are exactly halfway of our National Tourism Development Plan target arrivals,” Puyat said.

The Philippine government earlier said it is thinking of easing the visa rules for Chinese travellers as visitor arrivals from China is in the growth track.

DOT Spokesperson Bong Bengzon also said the government hopes to attract more tourists from other countries such as India, France, Spain, and Russia, as well as from countries in the Middle East.