Tourist arrivals in the Philippines reached a record of 1.148 million in January to March, an increase of 16.03 percent from a year earlier, a senior government official said on Tuesday.
Philippine Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez, Jr. said the latest visitor data prove the Philippine government's tourism campaign slogan -- "It's more fun in the Philippines."
"From this record, we have now achieved 25 percent of our international visitors target of 4.6 million for this year," said Jimenez.
"The world is now starting to see that (the slogan) 'It's More Fun in the Philippines' is not just a bunch of words on a streamer. It is a competitive argument for choosing the Philippines as one of the world's top tourist destinations. Philippine tourism is poised to surge forward as we receive a steady increase of tourist arrivals, as seen in the first quarter of this year," he added.
Government statistics showed that South Korea, the United States, Japan and China are the top four sources of tourists who visited the Philippines in the first quarter this year./.