2011 TOURIST ARRIVALS AT RECORD-HIGH OF 3.9
MILLION
MANILA, FEBRUARY 11, 2012
(abs-cbn) Foreign tourist arrivals in the Philippines hit
a record high last year, and the government is confident that the country's new
brand campaign will further improve the numbers.
Data from the Department of Tourism showed total visitor arrivals in the
country increased by 11.28% to 3.917 million in 2011, breaking the previous
record of 3.52 million in 2010. The figure also surpassed by 4.6% the DOT's 2011
visitor arrivals target of 3.7 million.
With the full rollout of the "It's More Fun in the Philippines" international
slogan, Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez expects 2012 to be another banner year.
"When the industry exceeds expectations as it had done last year, we feel
very encouraged. And with the overwhelming response to our new brand campaign
launched last month, we know that we have broken ground on crowdsourcing. The
people's campaign will help bring more numbers," he said.
Among the months last year, December saw the most number of tourist arrivals,
at 394,567, and November had the biggest growth of 19.8% over the 2010 figure,
at 337,021.
East Asia continued to lead all regional markets with 1,837,681
arrivals, 46.91% of the total number last year. South Korea remained as the
strongest single market with 925,204 arrivals for a 23.62% share of visitor
volume.
Elsewhere in the region, Japan (375,496 visitors, 9.59% share), China
(243,137, 6.21%) and Taiwan (181,738, 4.64%) ranked 3rd, 4th and 5th among all
individual markets respectively, while Hong Kong's 112,106 visitors were good
for 9th place. China and Taiwan were the greatest gainers, up 29.71% and 27.58%
from 2010, respectively.
Visitors from the US, the Philippines' second-largest tourist market, totaled
624,527 for a 15.94% share of all tourist traffic. Australia and Canada
experienced double-digit growths to 170,736 and 117,423 arrivals, 6th and 9th
highest among all countries.
Meanwhile, Singapore and Malaysia provided the majority of the 331,672
visitors from ASEAN, wherein the Philippines expects greater integration in
tourism following the 15th Meeting of ASEAN Tourism Ministers in Manado,
Indonesia last month.
Northern and Western Europe posted near-identical numbers after modest growth
with 164,205 and 157,265 arrivals, respectively.
Emerging markets India and Russia continued their fast climb, improving
23.89% and 37.86% from 2010 numbers to 42,844 and 20,185 visitors, respectively.
The Middle East also remained robust, with 55,829 arrivals representing a 14.6%
rise.
This year, the Philippines aims to attract 4.2 million tourists.
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
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