The launching of the new slogan in 2011 “It is more fun in the Philippines” has a positive impact on tourist arrivals as it creates more awareness to the country. Between January and April 2012, the country recorded 14.6% more foreign travellers than in the same period of 2011.
MANILA- The rebranding of Filipino tourism is giving a new breath of life to the country’s travel industry. According to figures released for the period of January to April 2012, a total of 1,497,851 visitors came to the country. This represents an increase of 14.61% over the previous year’s volume of 1,306,944. The month of April recorded 349,779 visitors, an increase of 10.19% against 317,443 arrivals for the same month a year ago.
Visitors from Korea continue to lead all other markets as it recorded 330,343 arrivals with a share of 22.05% of total visitors. Korean tourists continue to increase year after year. The first four months of 2012 represents a growth of 15.50% over the same period of 2011. With a growth 4.7% during the first four months of 2012, the U.S. market confirmed its second position. With 239,978 arrivals, America accounted for 16.02% of the total traffic. Japan consolidated its third ranking with a volume of visitors up by 6.78% to 137,984 arrivals. Japan market share is established at 9.21% of the total visitor’s volume. So far, China was turning into the fourth biggest market for the Philippines as it generated 123,262 travellers, up by a stunning 73.33%.
However recent political tensions with China and the subsequent demand of the Chinese government to stop sending travellers to the Philippines will certainly impact negatively the market over the next few months. The government recently estimated that this would not significantly affect the overall trend as China’s market share reaches only 8% of the total.
Other markets with high growth rates and consistently providing significant volume are Germany which grew by 15.36% (26,382 arrivals), Malaysia with 13.82% (32,363 arrivals), Australia with 13.38% (64,266 arrivals), the United Kingdom with 12.92% (41,759 arrivals) and Singapore with 11.38% (47,536 arrivals).
Luc Citrinot a French national is a freelance journalist and consultant in tourism and air transport with over 20 years experience. Based in Paris and Bangkok, he works for various travel and air transport trade publications in Europe and Asia.
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