Philippines October Tourist Arrivals Flat, But 10-Month At Record

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Foreign tourist arrivals into the Philippines in October were hardly changed from last years number, with a decline in the number of visitors from key markets such as China, Japan and South Korea offsetting increases from other countries, data from the Department of Tourism showed Thursday.

The data showed visitor arrivals reached 241,809, flat from the 241,745 recorded in October 2007. The Department of Tourism, however, noted that foreign tourists still climbed to a record-high 2.61 million in the first 10 months of this year, up 4% from last year’s 2.51 million.

Arrivals from South Korea, which emerged in recent years as the Philippines’ biggest tourist market, declined 9.4% on year in October to 45,007. The number of tourists from China declined 15% on year, while that from Japan fell 9.1% on year.

Offsetting those declines, the number of tourists from the U.S. rose 0.9% on year to 44,722. But arrivals for the first 10 months of this year from that market, the Philippines’ second largest, is only up 0.6%.

The tourism agency said arrivals from the U.S. are estimated to slow down toward the end of the year and in the first half of 2009.

Tourism Secretary Ace Durano told Dow Jones Newswires that his agency is bracing for the slowdown, and will try to stimulate the local travel industry to take up the slack in foreign tourist arrivals.
The government has already downgraded its target for tourist arrival growth this year to 5%-6% from 8%-10% initially. Last year, the country received a record 3.1 million foreign visitors.

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