Koreans continue to flock to RP in January
Foreign tourist arrivals up by 1.4
BY VERONICA UY

MANILA - A total of 70,733 Koreans visited the country in January, still making them the biggest group of foreign tourists who come to the Philippines, said Tourism Secretary Ace Durano.

In his report of visitor arrivals to the country, Durano noted that total foreign tourist arrivals went up by 1.4 percent from 268,818 in January 2006 to 272,525 in January 2007.
He said a total of 12,441 or 17 percent more overseas Filipinos, or Philippine passport holders who permanently reside abroad excluding overseas Filipino workers, visited the country, compared to 10,629 in January 2006.
After Korea, Durano said tourists from the following countries make up the next top 11 sources of visitors to the Philippines: the United States of America, which had 55,632 tourists; Japan, 34,947; China, 9,917; Canada, 9,812; Australia, 9,414; Taiwan, 8,419; Hong Kong, 6.709; Singapore, 6,691; United Kingdom, 6,175; Germany, 4,978; and Malaysia, 4,723.
In its yearend report, the department said that despite the natural calamities that affected the country in 2006 and with various travel advisories issued by the US, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom discouraging travel to the Philippines, international visitors grew by 8.4 percent, breaking through a new record of 2.84 million.
The Philippines seeks to post a steady 10 percent increase in tourist arrivals every year.
The department said that over the past three years from 2004 to 2006, visitor arrivals to the Philippines grew at an average of 14 percent per year, more than the growth rates registered by ASEAN countries and surpassing the projected seven percent increase of tourist traffic in the Asia-Pacific region by the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).