Philippines aiming for 6.3m visitor arrivals by 2016

The Philippines is aiming to lure 6.3 million tourists by 2016 according to Benito C. Bengzon, Jr., the Assistant Secretary, International Tourism Promotions, Department of Tourism – Philippines.

“The Philippines is aiming to double its visitor arrivals by 2016, and is promoting itself heavily in markets such as China, India, Russia and the Middle East. The India target will be assisted with PAL set to launch flights to India in March 2011,” he said.

To achieve its goals, the Department of Tourism, this year, has a budget of around 1.3 billion Pesos, but this could easily more than double if it gets its share of revenue from Pagcor.

Between January to November 2010 the Philippines recorded 3.126 million visitor arrivals, the highest numbers in 30 years and a 15.6% increase over 2009.

Korea bounced back as the number one source market with 49% growth during the period to record 659,397 visitor arrivals. Combined, China, Japan and Taiwan made up 36.9% of all visitor arrivals during that period in 2010. Taiwan alone was up 38% after two years of consecutive declines. Tourism receipts were estimated at US$ 2.2 billion, up 11% over the same period in the previous year. The average spend is US$ 672.63 with an impressive average length of stay of eight days.