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Philippine Online Travel Reservation System

BI says Philippines to meet tourist-arrival target

MANILA, Philippines – The Bureau of Immigration (BI) is optimistic the country will be able to hit its target of three million tourist arrivals this year despite the recent travel advisories issued by several nations against the Philippines due to alleged terror threat.

BI officer-in-charge Ronaldo Ledesma reported today foreign nationals who visited the Philippines in the past 10 months increased from 2,190,114 visitors to 2,562,505, up by 17 percent.

Ledesma said the country is on track to hit its target of at least three million visitors in 2010 because traditionally tourist arrivals spike during the last two months of the year when it is winter in the northern hemisphere and Europeans flock to tropical countries to escape the cold weather.

“The spate of negative travel advisories by foreign governments urging their citizens to avoid the Philippines hardly dented tourist arrivals,” Ledesma said in a statement.

In October alone, tourist arrivals stood at 239,465, up by almost 19,000 compared to the 220,572 registered visitors in September.

BI data showed that Americans still topped the list of foreign nationals who visited the country from January to October with 679,406; followed by Koreans with 525,564 and Japanese with 331,156.

Rounding up the top ten nationalities are Chinese tourists, 229,989; Australian, 140,238; Canadian, 116,175; British, 113,041; Taiwanese, 99,465; Malaysian, 70,107; and Singaporean, 66,336.

“This is a positive sign that despite the negative travel advisories, we are succeeding in our efforts to promote the Philippines as a prime tourist and investment destination,” Ledesma said.

By Helen M. Flores, Philstar News Service

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