More than 2 million international visitors have arrived in the Philippines from January to April, with South Koreans topping the list of arrivals, the Philippine Department of Tourism (DOT) said.
It should be noted that in the Philippines, one of the most visited places is the Puerto Princesa Underground River, which enjoys great biodiversity and is one of the New 7 Wonders of Nature since 2011.
Puerto Princesa is a coastal city on the island of Palawan, in the western Philippines. It is the starting point for boat tours through the enormous limestone caves and underground river of the national park of the same name. There are diving spots throughout Puerto Princesa Bay with long-faced dolphins, turtles and rays, a natural beauty not to be missed and to enjoy.
According to the data presented from January to April 2024, a total of 2,010,522 international visitors entered the country, of which 94.21 percent or 1,894,076 of the country’s total international arrivals were foreign tourists and about 5.79 percent or 116,446 were overseas Filipinos.
This is 15.11 percent more than the international arrivals recorded in the same period last year, amounting to 1,746,630.
South Korea remains the Philippines’ top source market in terms of visitor arrivals with 27.19 percent or 546,726, followed by the United States with 315,816 (15.71 percent), China with 130,574 (6.49 percent ), Japan with 123,204 (6.13 percent) and Australia with 88,048 (4.38 percent).
Canada, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, Singapore and Germany ranked sixth to tenth, respectively.
“The Department of Tourism sees a positive trajectory for international tourist arrivals to the country this year. We are hopeful that with more investment in tourism infrastructure, as well as a much-needed increase in connectivity, as well as improvements in air, land and sea infrastructure and accessibility, the numbers can increase further,” said the Secretary of Tourism, Christina Frasco.
The country aims to welcome 7.7 million international visitors this year, close to its pre-pandemic record achievement in 2019 with an estimated 8.26 million visitor arrivals.