FOREIGN TOURIST ARRIVALS IN THE COUNTRY UP BY 8.5%
South Koreans still top foreign tourists to RP - DOT MANILA, Philippines- Foreign tourist arrivals in the first quarter of the year rose marginally from a year earlier, still led by visitors from South Korea, the Department of Tourism said Tuesday. In a statement, the DOT said foreign tourist arrivals rose 8.5 percent to 858,244 in the first three months of 2008 from 790,888 visitors in the same period last year. The agency said that for the period in review, the most number of foreign visitors came in during January (293,803) while the month of February registered the highest growth of 11.7 percent. The tourism agency said the Korean market still the top markets as it contributed the biggest arrivals of 175,147 during the first three months of the year. The Korean market had a 20.4-percent share of total inbound traffic and registered a growth of 2 percent compared to 171,716 in 2007. Visitors from the United States constituted the second biggest arrivals with 166,128, or 19.4 perce...