International visitor arrivals breached the 2-million mark for the first time in the first quarter, ahead of the closure of the resort island of Boracay to tourists in April, data from the Tourism Department show.
The department said the country received 2.049 million visitors in January to March, up 14.8 percent from 1,784,882 guests in the same period in 2017.
“We already welcomed over two million foreign guests to the Philippines in just three months compared to last year when it took four months or until April to reach two million,” said Tourism Secretary Wanda Tulfo-Teo.
Teo said arrivals from China and Korea fueled the expansion of the tourism sector in the three-month period.
“For the first quarter, it has been a tight contest between the Chinese and the Koreans. In fact, these two key markets, together with the Americans, already comprise more than half our tourist arrivals,” Teo said.
She said Chinese visitors closed the margin to just 7,838 in March on a per month basis from more than 86,000 gap between the Korean and Chinese arrivals in January.
China remained the fastest growing market with 114,549 visitors in March, up by 50.4 percent from a year ago. Arrivals from Korea reached 122,387 during the month.
Data showed arrivals from China jumped 54 percent to 371,429 in the first quarter, , just behind the number of Korean toursts at 477,087. American tourists ranked third with 284,946, followed by Japanese guests at 181,178 and Australians at 74,027.
Other top sources of visitors were Canada, with 70,501; Taiwan, 59,877; United Kingdom, 56,521; Singapore, 44,398; Malaysia, 37,090, Hong Kong, 36,777; and India, 32,999.
“Our target for the Chinese arrivals this year remains at 1.5 million as we strive for more quality tourists who spend more in the country,” Teo said.
Chinese tourists in the country spent almost $50 per day with an average length of stay of 6.24 nights, according to the Tourism Annual Visitor Sample Survey 2017.
Shopping, sightseeing, nature and adventure were the usual activities of the Chinese travelers.
Chinese vacationers spent most at department stores, souvenir and curio shops, buying food delicacies, apparel, textile and garments, arts and crafts.