EARNINGS from tourists in the Philippines recovered in August 2017, powered by the increase in arrivals from mainland China.

A report from the Department of Tourism (DOT), a copy of which was obtained by the BusinessMirror, showed visitor receipts doubling to P32.47 billion in August, after coming from a low base of P15.7 billion in August 2016.

Earnings in August 2016 dropped a whopping 28.6 percent from the previous year, as arrivals from China slipped 6 percent year-on-year (YoY), in reaction to the ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration on both countries’ dispute over the South China Sea. (See, “Chinese arrivals fell 20 percent in August on South China Sea ruling,” in the BusinessMirror, October 26, 2016.)

August 2017, on the other hand, saw the number of Chinese visitors increasing 55 percent.

The August 2017 visitor receipts, along with July’s hefty contribution of P33.53 billion, helped boost the cumulative earnings from January to August 2017 to P212.33 billion, up some 30 percent from the same period in 2016.

On a monthly basis, South Koreans continued to be the top spenders among tourists who visited the Philippines in August, contributing P9.86 billion. No data was provided by the DOT regarding the comparative period in August 2016, however.

In second place were mainland Chinese, who spent P9.3 billion in August 2017, followed by Americans at P2.6 billion, the Japanese at some P2.4 billion and the Taiwanese at P2 billion.

Other high-spending tourists were Saudi Arabians, Germans and Indians, who spent more than P200 million in the country during their stay in the Philippines.

Tourists in August this year spent an average of 5,926.39 every day, up 44.7 percent from P4,095.22 in August 2016. Said tourists also stayed an average of 10.16 nights from 9.65 nights YoY. For their entire stay in the country, each tourist spent an average of P60,212.16, a 52.4-percent jump from August 2016’s average capital expenditure of P39,519.79.

For the last three months to August, tourists from Taiwan were the highest per-capita spenders in the Philippines, with expenses running to P100,079.95; followed by visitors from China at P97,302.11; Malaysia, P88,404.70; South Korea, P69,523.37; and Singapore, P54,162.30.

There were 545,254 tourists who arrived in the Philippines in August 2017, up 8.5 percent YoY. South Korea maintained its lead as top source market for tourists, with 141,869 arrivals during the said month, although this was almost 4-percent off from August 2016 arrivals. This was followed by China at 95,687, representing a huge 55-percent jump YoY; followed by Japan at 64,114 (+3.32 percent); the United States, 61,415 (+11.5 percent); and Taiwan at 19,993 (down 7 percent).

DOT officials noted that August is usually a lean month for Philippine tourism, and will likely pick up between October and November until the first quarter of the new year.

Arrivals from China have been steadily increasing since Beijing lifted its travel ban to the Philippines in October 2016, following the state visit of President Duterte.

The travel ban was imposed in 2014, due to the spate of kidnappings and killings of Chinese citizens in the Philippines. That year, 14 Chinese citizens were kidnapped in the country, five of who were found dead. There were also bomb threats made against China’s Embassy in Manila that year, further escalating the need of Beijing to issue the travel ban.

Beijing has committed 1 million Chinese tourists to the Philippines, raising the overall arrivals target of the DOT this year to 7 million to 7.5 million, from the official 6.5-million target under the National Tourism Development Plan of 2016-2022.