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THE Department of Tourism claimed that the domestic
tourism industry generated some $1 billion during the first quarter
of 2008.
Foreign tourist arrivals in the
first quarter of the year rose marginally from a year earlier, still
led by visitors from South Korea.
The Tourism department, which
sourced its data from arrival and departure cards and shipping
manifests, counted 858,244 arrivals from January 2008 to March 2008,
which is 8.5-percent higher compared to the 790,888 tourist arrivals
recorded during the same period last year.
The tourists spent a total of
$1.022 billion during the period, the department said.
“Tourist spending amounted to
$1.02 billion, with Korea accounting for the biggest bulk. The
Scandinavian region, as well as Germany, Russia, Canada and Hong
Kong, registered double-digit gains as shown by their increasing
expenditure and length of stay over the previous years,” the
statement added.
Koreans topped the arrivals, with
175,147 of them arriving during the first quarter of the year,
accounting for 20.4 percent of the total tourist arrivals.
The next biggest group of
tourists came from the United States, with the 166,128, making up
19.4 percent; followed by tourists from Japan at 99,453 or 11.6
percent.
Fourth to sixth were mainland
China with 48,619 (5.7percent); followed by Taiwan with 31,441 (3.7
percent); and Hong Kong, 31,344 (3.7 percent). If lumped together,
the Chinese group totals 111,404 (13.1 percent), bigger than the
Japanese group.
At the SMX Convention Center,
Mall of Asia, Pasay City, Tourism Secretary Ace Durano led at least
a hundred employers from tourism-related businesses offering
thousands of jobs during the “Trabaho sa Turismo” exposition of
the agency, which started Wednesday.
The two-day event, running on its
third year, aims to generate more direct hiring jobs in Metro Manila
and Luzon in the field of tourism.
Durano said that from 2004 to
2007, the tourism department generated 3.78 million direct
employment jobs as influx of foreign visitors rose from 2.29 million
in 2004 to 3.09 million last year, resulting in $4.89 billion in
foreign exchange inflows in 2007 alone.
The Tourism deparment is
targeting at least 3.5 million arrivals this year and five million
by 2010, which will require the upgrading of tourism facilities all
over the country.
--Sammy Martin and Jayson Cruz Luna
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