IANS | 29 Nov, 2023
The Philippines has exceeded its target of 4.8 million foreign
tourist arrivals for 2023, Tourism Secretary Christina Garcia-Frasco
said on Wednesday.
As of Monday, Frasco said the Southeast Asian
country has welcomed 4,822,530 international visitor arrivals, raking in
404 billion pesos ($7.296 billion), reports Xinhua news agency.
Frasco said 91.88 per cent of the total arrivals were foreign visitors, while 8.12 per cent were returning overseas Filipinos.
South
Korea remains the country's top source of foreign arrivals, accounting
for 26.37 per cent of the total, followed by the US (16.53 per cent),
Japan (5.66 per cent), and China (5.02 per cent), Frasco said.
Frasco
said the tourism industry "is the second-highest driver of economic
growth", as the industry has employed around 5.35 million Filipinos.
As
a key economic driver in the Philippines, tourism contributed 6.2 per
cent of the country's gross domestic product in 2022, with at least 2.65
million inbound foreign visitors.
