MANILA – Local tourism generated revenues worth P245 billion in the first half of 2019, thanks to international visitors’ spending, according to data provided by the Department of Tourism on Friday.
The DOT said the total receipts from January to June 2019 increased by 17.57 percent from the half-year gross revenues in 2018.
Data also showed that January posted the highest monthly revenue at P42 billion.
In June, tourists spent an estimated P38 billion, or 30.56 percent higher than in June 2018.
The DOT said it is keeping up with its target to attract high spending and longer staying tourists in the Philippines.
“These economic numbers are exciting …Tourism in 2018 was responsible for 5.4 million jobs in 2018, contributing 12.7 percent or P2.2 trillion to the country’s gross domestic product,” Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat said in a statement.
“At the end of the day, it is the number of lives changed for the better by tourism that would truly count.”
The DOT said that more than 4.1 million international tourists visited the country in the first 6 months of 2019, 11.4 percent higher compared to the same period in the previous year. (ABS-CBN News)
