Tourist arrivals breach three-million mark in 2007

REPORT FROM BUSINESSWORLD STATE TOURISM data show that 8.7% more tourists arrived last year over 2006, spending 40% more than total tourist expenditures recorded in 2006. The summary of the Tourism department’s yearend report showed that tourist arrivals breached the 3-million mark after staying within the 2-million territory from 2004-2006. Specifically, number of arriving tourists rose 8.7% to 3.091 million last year from 2.843 million in 2006. The 2006 figure was 8.4% more than 2.623 million in 2005, which in turn was 14.4% more than the 2.291 million recorded in 2004. Tourists last year spent a total of $4.885 billion, or 40% more than the $2.622-billion tourist spending recorded in 2006. Last year’s amount was also nearly a third more than the $3.782-billion target set for 2007. The 2006 amount was 17% more than the $2.236 billion in 2005, which in turn was 12% more than the $1.99 billion recorded in 2004. The Tourism department targets tourist spending to rise to $5.8 billion this year. The report said the department last year "sought to promote higher value tourism products and services" in a bid to "drive up visitor spending per capita." "Ultimately, DoT (Department of Tourism) aims to attract not only more tourists, but also higher-value visitors who stay longer and spend more," the report read. The top 10 tourist sources last year were: - South Korea, with arrivals increasing 14.2% year-on-year to 653,310, accounting for 21.1% of total tourist arrivals; - US, rising 2% to 578,983 and accounting for 18.7%; - Japan, actually dropping 6.4% to 395,012 and accounting for 12.8%; - China, rising 18% to 157,601 and accounting 5.1%; - Australia, rising 11% to 112,466 and accounting for 3.6%; - Taiwan, dropping 2.4% to 112,206 and also accounting for 3.6%; - Hong Kong, rising 16.3% to 111,948 and accounting also for 3.6%; - Singapore, rising 15.9% to 94,008 and accounting for 3%; - Canada, rising 13.4% to 91,308 and also accounting for 3%; and - the United Kingdom, increasing 16.3% to 79,670 and making up 2.6%. Russians posted the biggest jump, doubling (128%) from 2006. "More and varied types of tourists are being lured to the country. These include golfers, divers, students, honeymooners and families," the report read. "Promotional activities have presented the country as an ideal destination for learning the English language and other forms of educational travel, as well as medical tourism. In order to prod faster growth, the department has also mapped out the industry’s value chain that identifies drivers of and barriers to growth in a bid to more accurately assess the sector’s performance and better target investments needed. The Tourism department’s so-called Performance Metrics Dashboard has five key indicators, namely: - awareness and perception of the Philippines; - tour package acquisition, focusing on sales channels and travel agents; - transportation, covering air accessibility including airports; - accommodation, consisting of hotel capacity and utilization; as well as - delivery of services and tourist satisfaction, focusing on satisfaction levels and quality and value of products and services.