Tourist arrivals in the Philippines rose nearly 14 percent in the first four months of the year to 2.12 million, with foreign visitors led by tourists from South Korea.
Data from the Department of Tourism showed that foreign tourists accounted for 1.99 million, up 17 percent, but the number of overseas Filipinos or balikbayans declined by 19 percent to 124,202.
Visitors from South Korea in the January-April period increased 24 percent to 571,384 while those who came from the U.S. rose only 0.5 percent to 331,049.
Chinese visitors during the period in review more than doubled to 141,153 from 68,909 while Japanese tourists increased 50 percent to 132,500.
In all, visitors from 167 countries came to the Philippines during the first four months of the year.
The DOT projects foreign tourist arrivals to hit 7.7 million this year, still off the pre-pandemic level of 8.2 million. Last year, visitor arrivals reached 5.45 million.
