7cardstud|Nearly 3.28 mln foreign tourists arrive in Philippines in 7 months

MANILA7cardstud, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- A total of 3,276,731 foreign tourists visited the Philippines from January to July this year, 11.5 percent higher than the same period of 2023, a member of the House of Representatives said Sunday.

Marvin Rillo, vice chair of the House Committee on Tourism, said South Korea, the United States and China have been the country's main sources of international visitors so far this year.

Rillo said the Philippine government has allocated 6.4 billion pesos (113.78 million U.S. dollars) in fresh funding in 2025 to develop more access roads to tourist spots across the archipelagic country.

The fund is under the Tourism Road Infrastructure Program in the 2025 national budget, which the House and the Senate have been scrutinizing for the approval of President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos later this year.

"Congress is determined to provide all regions across the country ample support to upgrade their access roads and bridges leading to their tourism sites," Rillo said.

The Philippines aims to hit 7.7 million international visitors this year. In 2023, a total of 5,450,557 international visitors entered the country, 91.8 percent of which were foreigners, while the remaining were overseas Filipinos.■