By SAMMY JULIAN
Manila News Bureau Chief
MANILA – A total of 2.43 million tourists visited the Philippines in the first half of 2014, up 2.22 percent compared to the same period last year.
Based on latest government data, tourists from the Asian region contributed 58.7 percent of total arrivals with South Korea, China and Japan leading.
On the other hand, visitor arrivals from US and Europe made up 19.28 percent and 10.64 percent, respectively.
Association of Southeast Asian Nations member-countries recorded a year-on-year rise of 11.2 percent in tourist arrivals to the Philippines.
The number of tourists from southern Europe, meanwhile, grew by 13.35 percent and eastern Mediterranean Europe by 13.58 percent.
South Korea topped the list with some 548,000 visitors, followed by 389,500 from the US and over 226,000 from China.
From January to June, foreign visitors spent about P110 billion (around $2.5 billion) in the Philippines.
The biggest spenders were:
- Koreans (P29.11 billion)
- Americans (P22.64 billion)
- Australians (P7.38 billion)
- Japanese (P5.48 billion), and
- Chinese (P4.88 billion)./PN
