Foreign tourists for first half of 2018 reach all-time high at 3.7 million

Foreign visitor arrivals in the country has reached an all-time high of over 3.7 million during the first half of 2018, according to the Department of Tourism (DOT).

The tourism department recorded 3,706,721 foreign tourist arrivals from January to June 2018, a double-digit growth of 10.40 percent compared to the 3.3 million foreign arrivals in the same period last year.

The DOT noted that its “partnership with the private sector and intensified convergence with relevant government agencies” as the main factors that pushed the increase of foreign tourist arrivals.

“The DOT’s continuous marketing promotions, aggressive actions to create new air routes and develop new tourism products, travel facilitation, and confidence in tourism investments drummed up the industry and resulted in this stellar performance,” said Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat.

Puyat also emphasized that this success had been possible because of the consolidated efforts of stakeholders.

Moreover, she said that the department is on track in reaching their target of 7.4 million arrivals by the end of the year.

“We are actually on track. We are halfway through the year and we are exactly halfway of our National Tourism Development Plan (NTDP) target arrivals,” the tourism chief said.

via Manila Bulletin / Analou de Vera