International visitor arrivals increased 7.6 percent in the first quarter to a record 2.2 million from 2.05 million in the same period in 2018, data from the Tourism Department show.
The Tourism Department said the record-high international visitor arrivals this year provided an encouraging sign that Philippine tourism was on the right track.
“The DoT is working on enhancing our tourism products and tourism infrastructure to entice tourists to choose the Philippines as their next destination,” said Tourism Secretary Bernadette Puyat.
South Korea remained the top source market with 519,58 arrivals in the first three months, up from 477,087 a year ago. Arrivals from China, the second biggest group, grew 24.87 percent to 463,804 from 371,429. Taiwanese visitors, a sub-grouping of the Chinese group, increased 30 percent to 77,908 from 59,877 in 2018.
Visitors from the United States rose 3.1 percent to 293,780 in the quarter while arrivals from Japan reached 177,769.