Malaysia Record Highest Growth Rate In Tourist Arrivals To The Philippines

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 18 (Bernama) -- Malaysia was the Philippines' 10th largest source of tourist arrivals, said Philippines Ambassador to Malaysia, J. Eduardo Malaya. He said based on data from the Philippines Department of Tourism (DOT), Malaysia has also posted the highest growth rate of 22.5 per cent in tourist arrivals (88,701 tourist arrivals) to the Philippines for the first eight months of the year, compared with the previous year. "Malaysians view the Philippines as an attractive tourist destination with its relative distance from their country and the increasing number of connections between our two countries," he said in a statement here, Monday. Malaya said the aggressive tourism promotion campaign undertaken by the government had been instrumental in encouraging Malaysians to visit the country. He said visitor arrivals to the Philippines from January to August this year had reached 3.26 million, recording an increase of 2.72 per cent over the previous year's volume of 3.18 million. South Koreans accounted for the highest number of tourist arrivals at 783,852 followed by the United States with 493,338 arrivals, Japan (310,901), China (308,393), Australia (140,123), Singapore (118,382), Taiwan (97,004) and the United Kingdom (90,606) during the period, said the statement. "Next year is 'Visit Philippines Year' where several activities and events would be lined up to attract both domestic and foreign tourists," he said. --BERNAMA