Koreans Have Fun In Philippines
By JACKY LYNNE A. OIGA
February 9, 2012
MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Tourism (DoT) announced Thursday that the number of tourist arrivals in the country has reached 3.917 million in 2011, surpassing the government’s target of 3.7 million.
Officials said that the figure is about 11.28 percent higher than the 3.520 million posted in 2010.
“When the industry exceeds expectations as it had done last year, we feel very encouraged. And with the overwhelming response to our new brand campaign ‘It’s More Fun in the Philippines’ launched last month, we know that we have broken ground on crowdsourcing. The people’s campaign will help bring more numbers,” said Secretary Ramon R. Jimenez Jr.
Jimenez added: “As infrastructure challenges and policy bottlenecks are successfully worked on, marketing the Philippines as a tourist destination and investment haven will be greatly facilitated under the leadership of President Aquino. Optimistically by 2016, the country would have sufficient capacity to host 10 million visitors.”
Helped by gains in all regional markets, the country capped 2011 with 394,567 tourists arriving in December, strongest among all months last year. November proved to be the biggest gainer, improving 19.80 percent from the same month in 2010 with 337,021 visitors.
Ten out of the twelve months last year saw figures north of 300,000. The 2011 figure also includes returning overseas Filipinos, who numbered 207,152.
Korea remains to be the strongest single market for tourism with 925,204 arrivals for a 23.62 percent share of all visitor volume.
Other East Asia regional markets are also increasingly thriving like: Japan (375,496 visitors, 9.59 percent share), China (243,137, 6.21 percent) and Taiwan (181,738, 4.64 percent) ranked 3rd, 4th and 5th among all individual markets respectively, while Hong Kong’s 112,106 visitors were good for 9th place.
Visitors from the US, the Philippines’ second-largest tourist market, totaled 624,527 for 15.94 percent of all tourist traffic. Australia and Canada experienced double-digit growth to 170,736 and 117,423 arrivals, 6th and 9th most among all countries.
Officials said that the figure is about 11.28 percent higher than the 3.520 million posted in 2010.
“When the industry exceeds expectations as it had done last year, we feel very encouraged. And with the overwhelming response to our new brand campaign ‘It’s More Fun in the Philippines’ launched last month, we know that we have broken ground on crowdsourcing. The people’s campaign will help bring more numbers,” said Secretary Ramon R. Jimenez Jr.
Jimenez added: “As infrastructure challenges and policy bottlenecks are successfully worked on, marketing the Philippines as a tourist destination and investment haven will be greatly facilitated under the leadership of President Aquino. Optimistically by 2016, the country would have sufficient capacity to host 10 million visitors.”
Helped by gains in all regional markets, the country capped 2011 with 394,567 tourists arriving in December, strongest among all months last year. November proved to be the biggest gainer, improving 19.80 percent from the same month in 2010 with 337,021 visitors.
Ten out of the twelve months last year saw figures north of 300,000. The 2011 figure also includes returning overseas Filipinos, who numbered 207,152.
Korea remains to be the strongest single market for tourism with 925,204 arrivals for a 23.62 percent share of all visitor volume.
Other East Asia regional markets are also increasingly thriving like: Japan (375,496 visitors, 9.59 percent share), China (243,137, 6.21 percent) and Taiwan (181,738, 4.64 percent) ranked 3rd, 4th and 5th among all individual markets respectively, while Hong Kong’s 112,106 visitors were good for 9th place.
Visitors from the US, the Philippines’ second-largest tourist market, totaled 624,527 for 15.94 percent of all tourist traffic. Australia and Canada experienced double-digit growth to 170,736 and 117,423 arrivals, 6th and 9th most among all countries.
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