Tourism recovers in the Philippines

Visitor arrivals in major destinations in the Philippines rose 5.37 percent year-on-year to 3.65 million in the first five months of 2010, according to the Department of Tourism (DOT), citing data from regional offices and local tourism offices.
In particular, the movement of foreign tourists in key tourist areas expanded by 12.81 percent while the travel of domestic tourists posted a 2.12 percent growth.  Metro Manila remains the leading destination with 848,518 tourists staying in its accommodation facilities for a share of 23.3 percent of the total.  Top sources of visitors in the nation’s capital are China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea and Taiwan.  Local residents from other places visiting Metro Manila for tourism related purposes and staying in hotels and similar facilities registered a share of 35.4 percent.