RP visitor arrivals reach one million

RP visitor arrivals reach one million

Visitor arrivals for the first four months of 2007 (January to April) totalled to 1,034,329 registering a 7.1 percent increase compared to the same period last year (965,853).

Auguring well to the tourism industry is the consistent positive growth rates in visitor arrivals from January to April with the month of January providing the biggest volume of 272,525 while the month of March recorded the highest growth of 15.1 percent.

The East Asian region maintained its position as the largest contributor of arrivals by region, accounting for 45.9 percent of the overall traffic base. This region posted an increase of 5.5 percent, from its output of 449,598 the previous year to 474,507 arrivals for the year.

The combined total of 239,285 arrivals supplied by the North American countries made this region the second biggest supplier of arrivals for the country. It grew by 3.3 percent versus its production of 231,670 arrivals the previous year. The ASEAN region shared 7.1 percent (73,572 arrivals) to the total visitor volume to rank third in visitor contribution while Australasia/Pacific have 50,952 arrivals to constitute the fourth biggest arrivals by region. Visitors from Western Europe increased by 9 percent as arrivals reached 46,604 compared to 42,771 arrivals last year.

Meanwhile, the influx of domestic travelers during the summer vacation has caused strong competition among foreign and domestic visitors for accommodations in various destinations of the country. This constrained the growth of foreign arrivals during this month. But total visitor arrivals for the month of April 2007 still increased with 243,441 compared to the arrivals of 238,941 last year.

The US market contributed the biggest share, topping the list with 51,197, or 21 percent of the total arrivals. Travelers from Korea comprised the second biggest group numbering 41,378, sharing 17 percent to total visitor volume. This market grew by 5.8 percent compared to its contribution of 39,115 arrivals last year.

The Japanese market contributed the third biggest arrivals of 33,858 comprising 13.9 percent of the total inbound traffic, declining by six percent versus its corresponding arrivals of 36,037 for the same month in 2006. China continued to position itself in the top five markets of the Philippines by producing 12,565 visitors for a share of 5.2 percent to total visitor volume. This market recorded an increase of 11.1 percent from its volume of 11,307 arrivals last year. Arrivals from Hong Kong aggregated to 10,388 which is 4.3 percent of the total arrivals and registering a double-digit increase of 19.2 percent when compared to its 8,714 arrivals last year.