Visitor spending up, Chinese tourists now 2nd biggest market — DOT

International visitor arrivals for July grew only 1.28%, but tourists' spending for the month went up by 58.22%, the Department of Tourism said.

In a statement on Wednesday, the DOT said that 568,035 visitors arrived in the Philippines in July 2017, up from 560,872 in July 2016.

It's not a large jump in number, but P33.52 in billion visitor receipts were generated in July 2017, compared to P21.18 billion in July 2016.

The DOT pegs the average daily expenditure this year at P5,989, while the average length of stay is 9 nights.

“These figures are significant in terms of measuring our tourism industry’s sustainability. We hope to see this upward trend as an indication that our industry is working hard at attracting more of the high-spending segments or that product diversification has yielded more options to do and spend for,” Tourism Secretary Wanda Tulfo-Teo was quoted in a statement sent to the press.

Chinese tourists dethrone US visitors

The data also shows that China is now the second most fruitful market, overtaking the US. China registered 90,763 arrivals, while the US registered 86,017.

“Beijing apparently is making good its promise to send more tourists to the Philippines to help boost the country’s visitor arrival figures,” Teo said.

South Korea is still the most fruitful visitor market at 132,135 arrivals. The country is also the top-spending market, with an expenditure of an estimated P9.83 billion in July. China clocked in at second with P8.89 billion.

The number of visitor arrivals from January to July is at 3,925,626, making the DOT confident that they will reach their 7-million visitor target this year. — Aya Tantiangco/BM, GMA News