Over 6 million foreign tourists visited PHL from January-September 2019 —DOT

The visitor count of the Philippines surpassed the six million mark at the end of September, according to data released by the Department of Tourism (DOT) on Saturday.

In its latest monthly report, DOT said the country's visitors increased by 14.37%, from 5,387,458 visitors to 6,161,503 visitors from January to September.

DOT added that a total of 606,553 visitors were recorded for September, which posed a double-digit growth of 17.09% compared to the 518,041 visit count for September last year.

“The figures look very promising, and we are glad that more tourists are visiting us in light of the accolades received by the Philippines and our destinations throughout the year,” Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat said in a statement.

The Philippines was awarded the 8th spot on the list of 20 Most Favorite Countries in the World of the Condé Nast Traveler (CNT) Readers’ Choice Award. The country was also hailed as Asia's leading Dive Destination by the World Travel Awards, among others.

“While these awards prove prudence in our efforts to bolster Philippine tourism, ultimately, what keeps us doing what we do in the DOT is seeing more of our countrymen revel in the positive impacts of genuine sustainable tourism,” Puyat said.

According to the statement, Korea still stopped the top 10 list of visitors in the Philippines with a total of 1,450,792 arrivals. This was followed by China with 1,359,817, and then the US with 792,618 visitors for the nine-month period.

Japan took the fourth spot with 518,211 arrivals, followed by Taiwan with 252,578 arrivals. —Joahna Lei Casilao/KG, GMA News