MANILA, Aug. 12 (Xinhua) -- A total of 4,133,050 foreign tourists visited the Philippines from January to June 2019, an increase of 11.43 percent compared to the same period in 2018, the Department of Tourism (DOT) said on Monday.
"We have already breached the four million mark within the first six months of the year," Philippine Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat said in a statement.
She said the Philippine tourism industry has come a long way with better and increased connectivity. "New, rehabilitated and expanded airports have contributed much to this growth," she said.
"By expanding our portfolio of tourism products and by developing and promoting our lesser-known but emerging destinations, we have attracted a large yet diverse set of foreign travelers and have sustained our growth in the highly-competitive Southeast Asian region," she added.
For the month of June 2019 alone, the DOT said tourist arrivals reached a growth rate of 21.41 percent at 643,780 arrivals versus 530,267 in June 2018.
Romulo-Puyat said South Korea continues to be the top source market.
