Philippine tourist arrivals up 31.4%

Philippine tourist arrivals up 31.4%

MANILA: Tourist arrivals in the Philippines rose 31.4 percent to nearly one million in the five months to May, keeping the government's full-year target of 2.5 million visitors on track, the tourism department said on Thursday.

January-May arrivals rose to 946,440 compared to 720,518 in the same period last year, Tourism Secretary Roberto Pagdanganan said in a statement.

He said he was confident "that the country will reach the 2.5 million target this year", or up 31 percent from 2003 arrivals of 1.907 million. -- AFP