Roderick T. dela Cruz
Manila Standard

International visitor arrivals to the Philippines rose 10.3 percent year-on-year in September, marking the fourth straight month of double-digit growth, which put the country closer to its goal of attracting a record three million foreign tourists in 2007.

Tourism Secretary Joseph Durano said the country was on its way to posting the record arrival figure this year, despite the Makati blast on October 19, which police officials linked to an accidental underground gas explosion at the Glorietta mall.

Data from the Tourism Research and Statistics Division showed that there were 212,415 foreign arrivals in September, up by nearly 20,000 or 10.3 percent from a year ago.

This followed a similar 10.3 percent increase in August, 11.6 percent in July and 10.9 percent in June.

Total arrivals in the first nine months hit 2.266 million, up 8.6 percent from 2.086 million recorded during the same period in 2006.

This means the country needs to attract 734,000 foreign tourists in the fourth quarter, or 245,000 each month in the remaining months of 2007, to achieve the three-million target.

Industry players said the target is achievable as the fourth quarter is historically considered a peak season for the tourism industry.

The Department of Tourism was actually aiming for 3.1 million arrivals this year, but Durano said the agency was setting its sights at the three million benchmark at the moment.

He said the influx of three million foreign tourists was expected to generate a record $4 billion for the economy this year.

Korea maintained its position as the largest source of foreign tourists, accounting for nearly 21 percent of the total in the nine-month period.

Arrivals from Korea grew 16.3 percent to 472,711. The Department of Tourism expects the figure to hit 650,000 by December.

Visitors from the United States, including Filipino holders of American passports, increased 2.1 percent to 433,425 for a 19.1 share of the total.

Arrivals from Japan fell 7 percent to 303,420, but this was offset by a 15.8 percent increase in visitors from China at 113,593.

Other top origins of foreign guests in the Philippines were Taiwan, Hong Kong, Australia, Singapore, Canada, United Kingdom, Malaysia and Germany.

Durano said tourism receipts had grown 20 percent to 30 percent annually over the past three years because of the combination of high-spending European tourists and long-staying Korean guests.

He said due to increased visitor arrivals, the tourism sector generated more than one million jobs over the past three years, on top of the two million existing jobs.