MANILA, July 20 (Xinhua) — Over 3 million international vacationers have visited the Philippines within the first half of this 12 months, in response to the Philippines’ Department of Tourism (DOT) information launched Wednesday evening.
Philippine Tourism Secretary Christina Garcia-Frasco stated the Southeast Asian nation recorded 3,000,079 worldwide customer arrivals from Jan. 1 to June 19, reflecting the “continued robust recovery” of the tourism sector.
The inbound tourism receipts within the first six months climbed to greater than 3.9 billion U.S. {dollars}, virtually 5 occasions increased than the income generated in the identical interval in 2022, Frasco stated.
South Korea was the highest supply market with 741,658 guests, adopted by the United States, Australia, Japan and Canada.
“Tourism provides employment and livelihood to millions of Filipinos. We are grateful for the renewed interest worldwide in the Philippines,” Frasco stated.
According to information from the DOT, the Philippines obtained over 2.65 million international vacationers in 2022, raking in 3.84 billion U.S. {dollars} in income, contributing 6.2 p.c of the nation’s GDP.
For this 12 months, the nation’s tourism division targets worldwide arrivals to hit between 2.6 million to six.4 million “in a high scenario.”