The Philippine Online Chronicles

The Philippines posted a record 3.92 million tourists arrivals in 2011, driven mainly by visitors from Korea, the United States, and Japan, according to a report.

Last year’s figure is 11.6 percent higher than the 3.5 million tourists recorded in 2010, and is well above the Department of Tourism (DOT)’s 3.7 million target for the year.

Based on the DOT data, Korean travelers accounted for almost 24 percent of last year’s figure (at 925,204 arrivals), followed by visitors from the US at 16 percent (624,527 arrivals) and from Japan at 10 percent (375,496 arrivals).

Other major tourist markets in 2011 are China (243,137 arrivals), Taiwan (181,738 arrivals), and Australia (170,736 arrivals).

East Asia was last year’s major source of tourist arrivals on a regional basis at 1.84 million or 47 percent of total visitors in 2011.

The DOT said more Chinese travelers are raring to visit parts of the country outside of Metro Manila, citing the 40,804 charter flights going straight to resorts, mainly to Boracay.

It also noted huge year-on-year increases in arrivals from emerging tourism markets like India (24 percent), and Russia (38 percent).

DOT Secretary Ramon Jimenez Jr. said the breach of target last year makes tourism officials feel “encouraged.”

"When the industry exceeds expectations as it had done last year, we feel very encouraged. And with the overwhelming response to our new brand campaign launched last month, we know that we have broken ground on crowdsourcing. The people's campaign will help bring more numbers," Secretary Jimenez said in an Interaksyon report.

In January, the DOT launched its new tourism slogan “It’s more fun in the Philippines” that made a splash in social networking sites.

For 2012, tourism officials are optimistic they will record 4.2 million visitors, with the new tourism campaign and with infrastructure development.

"Our marketing resource has grown exponentially because of other people’s contributions in kind. We will continue to build on these positive energies to attract 4.2 million this year," Jimenez said.