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TOURIST arrivals last month rose in the single-digits, the
Department of Tourism said.
In a statement, the agency said tourist arrivals
in April reached 253,869, or 4.3 percent higher than the 243,441 for
the same month last year. The April figure led the four-month total
to reach 1,112,113, for a 7.5-percent increase over last year’s
1,034,329.
The department said the US market contributed
the biggest share, topping the list of travel markets for the month
in review as it accounted for 18.5 percent of the total or 47,013
arrivals.
Travelers from Korea comprised the second
biggest group numbering 45,382 for a share of 17.9 percent. This
market grew by 9.7 percent year-on-year.
The Japanese market was the third biggest source
of arrivals with 29,295 comprising 11.5 percent of the total inbound
traffic followed by China with 13,845, and Australia with 9,904.
Tourist count from the Scandinavian market
continued to post substantial growth with Norway increasing by 13.3
percent, Ireland with 6.9 percent, Sweden with 5.4 percent and
Denmark by 5.2 percent.
Other fast growing European markets also showed
gains such as Russia with 32.8 percent, Italy with 22.2 percent and
Spain with 12 percent.
During the first four months, 11 cruise ships
arrived with seven ships disembarking in Manila with a total of
8,197 visitors while the remaining cruise liners had ports of call
in Subic, Cebu and Davao with total visitors of 1,321.
Tourist spending amounted to $ 1.34 billion for
the period.
-- Darwin G. Amojelar
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