Visitor Arrivals Increase 11 Percent

International visitor arrivals increased 11.2 percent to 3.867 million in the first 10 months of 2013 from 3.478 million a year ago, according to a report by Philippine Daily Inquirer.

Visitors from South Korea, the United States and China comprised the biggest chunk of the almost 4 million tourist arrivals in the 10-month period, which represent 70.3 percent of the targeted 5.5 million arrivals for 2013.

February registered the highest growth of 15.52 percent while the month of January recorded the biggest arrivals at 436,079 tourists, the tourism agency added.

Visitors from South Korea led all other markets, as it contributed the biggest arrivals at 990,486. Tourists from the United States came next, with 550,991 visitors, followed by the Chinese market, with 365,905 visitors.

Other top sources of tourist arrivals are Japan, with 360,721; Australia, with 165,282; Singapore, with 142,970; Taiwan, with 120,587; Hong Kong, with 107,312; Canada, with 100,274, and the United Kingdom, with 96,648 arrivals.

The Department of Tourism reported significant gains in the following markets: Russian Federation (up 27.63 percent), with 25,981 arrivals; Indonesia (up 25.05 percent), with 37,740 arrivals; Saudi Arabia (up 28.97 percent), with 33,807 arrivals; France (up 16.69 percent), with 31,802 arrivals; Thailand (up 18.64 percent), with 39,847 arrivals; and India (up 12.47 percent), with 42,860 arrivals.