MANILA, Philippines—Despite a spate of negative travel advisories, the number of foreigners who visited the Philippines last year rose to more than 3.4 million, an increase of almost 20 percent compared to 2009, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) said Sunday.
Immigration officer-in-charge Ronaldo Ledesma said foreigner arrivals totaled 3,451,668 in 2010, or 19.5 percent higher than the 2,887,303 who came to the country the previous year.
“The negative advisories of foreign governments warning their citizens against going to the Philippines did not
have any impact at all,” Ledesma said in a statement.
International traveler arrivals even peaked during the last quarter of the year, when most of the advisories were issued due to reported threats of terror attacks in the country, he added.
BI records showed that from 188,028 foreign visitor arrivals in September, the number increased steadily to 204,779 in October, 218,482 in November, and 265,651 in December.
“These numbers send a very clear message that the confidence of the international community in the Philippines and the government of President Aquino is very strong. No amount of alleged or perceived terror threats could shake or erode that confidence,” he said.
Ledesma noted that BI statistics were consistent with the Department of Tourism’s target of 3.3 million tourist arrivals in 2010.
BI's 3.4 million arrivals included all types of international travelers, including tourists, investors, expatriates, students and balikbayans who had acquired foreign citizenship.
BI immigration regulation division chief Alberto Braganza said that of the 3.4 million foreigners who came last year, about 80 percent or 2.7 million landed at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport while the rest entered at other ports such as Mactan, Clark and Davao.
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Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer
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