Visitors arrival reached 1.5 million

Total of 1,497,851 visitors came to the country from January to April 2012, an increase of 14.61% over the previous year’s volume of 1,306,944 for the same period. The month of April recorded 349,779 visitors, an increase of 10.19% against its 317,443 arrivals for the same month a year ago.

Visitors from Korea continue to lead all other markets as it recorded 330,343 arrivals with a share of 22.05% to total visitor inflow. This figure was higher by 15.50% than the volume of 286,018 arrivals in the first four months of 2011. The U.S. market ranked second as it accounted for 16.02% of the total traffic. This market had an increase of 4.70% with 239,978 arrivals compared to its contribution of 229,200 arrivals last year.

Visitors from Japan accounted the third biggest arrival count of 137,984 for a share of 9.21% to the visitor volume. This market posted an increase of 6.78% vis-à-vis its output of 129,223 arrivals a year ago. The China market supplied 123,262 as the fourth biggest inbound visitors to the country. A double-digit increase of 73.33% was registered by this market versus its last year’s comparative figure of 71,113 arrivals. Visitors from Taiwan likewise posted a two-digit growth of 34.51% contributing 74,871 arrivals against its volume of 55,662 a year ago.

Other markets with high growth rates and consistently providing significant volume are Germany which grew by 15.36% (26,382 arrivals), Malaysia with 13.82% (32,363 arrivals), Australia with
13.38% (64,266 arrivals), United Kingdom with 12.92% (41,759 arrivals) and Singapore with 11.38% (47,536 arrivals).

By regional grouping, the East Asian region topped with a 47.38% share to the total or a volume of 709,728. Almost all of the countries from this region consistently ranked among the top five contributors of visitors with the biggest volume coming from Korea while China recorded the highest growth. Following the East Asian region was North America, producing a combined total of 288,839 arrivals or 19.28% share to the total visitor volume. The ASEAN region took the third spot in the regional ranking, capturing 7.83% of the total tourist inflow by producing 117,224 arrivals. (CTO)