MANILA, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Over 2 million international tourists have visited the Philippines since January this year, the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) said Thursday.
Citing data from the Department of Tourism (DOT), the PCO said that 2,010,522 international visitors entered the Southeast Asian country from Jan. 1 to April 24.
The data showed that tourism receipts reached 157.62 billion pesos (2.73 billion U.S. dollars) during the first quarter.
Of the total international arrivals, the PCO said 94.21 percent, or 1,894,076, were foreign tourists, while 5.79 percent, or 116,446, were overseas Filipinos.
The PCO added that the number of international arrivals recorded this year is 15.11 percent higher than the 1,746,630 recorded in the same period 2023.
South Korea maintains its spot as the Philippines' top source market of inbound visitor arrivals with 27.19 percent or 546,726, followed by the United States, with 315,816 or 15.71 percent of the total, and China with 130,574 or 6.49 percent.
The Philippines aims to welcome 7.7 million international visitors this year.
In 2023, over 5 million international visitors entered the country. ■