DOT: More than 2 million foreign tourists arrived in PHL in Q1

The Department of Tourism (DOT) on Sunday said that over two million international visitors arrived in the country in the first quarter of 2018.

"We already welcomed over two million foreign guests to the Philippines in just three months compared to last year when it took four months or until April to reach two million," DOT Secretary Wanda Teo said in a press release.

"For the first quarter, it has been a tight contest between the Chinese and the Koreans. In fact, these two key markets, together with the Americans, already comprise more than half our tourist arrivals," Teo added.

Data from the DOT shows a 14.80-percent year-on-year increase: 2,049,094 foreign tourists in the first quarter of 2018 compared to 1,784,882 tourists in the same period in 2017.

The DOT said that the Chinese remain the "fastest-growing market," with 371,429 arrivals in the first three months of 2018, but trail the Koreans at 477,087.

In March, 114,549 Chinese and 122,387 Koreans visited the country.

"Our target for the Chinese arrivals this year remains at 1.5 million as we strive for more quality tourists who spend more in the country," Teo said.

She also underscored that the foreign visitors also consist of American tourists (284,946 arrivals), followed by the Japanese (181,178), and Australians (74,027).

Other sources of international visitors are Canada (70,501), Taiwan (59,877), United Kingdom (56,521), Singapore (44,398), Malaysia (37,090), Hong Kong (36,777), and India (32,999). — Anna Felicia Bajo/BM, GMA News