Koreans top foreign visitors in Western Visayas

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MANILA — Korean tourists accounted the most number of arrivals in Western Visayas, the Department of Tourism (DOT) Region VI reported on Tuesday.

According to DOT-VI, for the first half of the year, Korean tourists acquired 134,297 total arrivals, followed by Chinese tourists with 111,680 arrivals, and Taiwanese with 20,560 arrivals. ‪

Region VI is home to the world-renowned beach of Boracay, and some of the country’s top festivals — Dinagyang, Masskara, and Ati-Atihan.

To recall, the DOT earlier revealed that the country as a whole acquired 2.4-million foreign tourist arrivals for the first six months of the year. It aims to reach 6.8-million by yearend.

Similar to the foreign tourist arrivals in Western Visayas, the top source of international visitors in the Philippines for the first half of the year was also South Korea with 547,971 arrivals.

However, the country differed from the region in its second source of international visitors, which was the US with 389,432 arrivals, and China with 226,163 arrivals.

The DOT also noted that a total of Php109.77 billion was generated from inbound tourists for the first six months of the year.

At present, the department is working on boosting tourism efforts with its proposed P2.155-billion budget for next year.

For 2015, the DOT is expecting 8.2-million foreign visitors and eventually, 10-million foreign visitors by the end of the Aquino administration in 2016.