Philippine tourist numbers rise nearly 10pc despite disasters

MANILA, Feb 13 (AFP): The Philippines saw a 9.56 per cent jump in foreign arrivals last year despite a series of natural disasters, the government said Thursday.
More than 4.68 million tourists visited the country in 2013.
But the figure was below the nation's target of five million arrivals for the year.
This was likely to due to the powerful earthquake, which killed more than 220 people and damaged facilities and roads in the popular tourist islands of Cebu and Bohol in October, and the destruction caused by Super Typhoon Haiyan in November, Tourism Department spokesman Benito Bengzon said.
The typhoon left 8,000 dead or missing and devastated many popular tourist spots in the central islands.
"There were a lot of calamities that hit us last year and there were some cancellations," Bengzon told AFP.
Despite the setbacks, the agency is still targeting six million foreign tourist arrivals for 2014, he said.
This figure has been revised from an earlier target of 6.8 million for this year.
The earthquake and typhoon destroyed tourism infrastructure and popular attractions like historic churches, hotels, resorts and diving and surfing sites.
But Bengzon said the industry was rebounding, remarking that even in November and December, despite the global attention on the disasters, tourist arrivals still went up compared to 2012.
He said more visitors are expected this year due to an increase in flights.
South Koreans were the biggest source of tourists last year, accounting for 24 per cent of the total with the United States a distant second, making up 15.3 per cent of foreign visitors.