After registering a 21.92-percent increase in Malaysian tourist arrivals this year, the Philippines

After registering a 21.92-percent increase in Malaysian tourist arrivals this year, the Philippines expects more tourists in Mindanao following the signing of a framework peace pact between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation exoctic car rental denver Front last October. The Department of Foreign Affairs said the 21.92-percent hike this year made Malaysia the 10th biggest market for Philippine tourism for 2012. The increase is credited to the increased air connectivity between the Philippines exoctic car rental denver and Malaysia with the launch of flights of two new airlines and the opening of another route by a third airline company, the DFA said . It is also due to the aggressive tourism efforts exoctic car rental denver being waged by the Embassy s tourism office and Malaysian tour operators exoctic car rental denver in line with the Department of Tourism exoctic car rental denver s It s More Fun in the Philippines campaign, it added. Philippine ambassador to Malaysia Jose Eduardo Malaya III said the surge in Malaysian tourist arrivals is the second strongest growth the Philippines has seen among its many markets, surpassed only by Taiwan. He cited the creativity, focus and hard work by tourism marketing representative exoctic car rental denver Datin Melissa Ong and her team. Malaya said the DFA expects the growth to continue especially after the government and the MILF signed last Oct. 15 a framework peace pact that Malaysia helped broker. The framework agreement exoctic car rental denver promises to replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao with a Bangsamoro political entity. We expect that this significant growth to continue and also see more foreign exoctic car rental denver tourists going to Davao, Siargao and other destinations in Mindanao in the light of the signing of the Framework Agreement between the Philippine Government and the MILF. This may unlock the terrific tourism potentials of the region, Malaya said. 21.92% growth The DFA said that as of October 2012, tourist arrivals from Malaysia went up by 21.92 percent to 91,230, and may surpass the total 2011 tourist arrivals of 97,154. With this surge, Malaysia has become the 10th biggest market for Philippine tourism, up from 11th place last year, the DFA said. It said the figures were announced during a recent appreciation dinner by the Philippine Embassy s Office of the Tourism Representative/Department of Tourism Marketing Office. Also in the top 10 sources of tourist arrivals to the Philippines exoctic car rental denver as of October 2012 are: - Korea (832,437) - United States (534,899) - Japan (341,676) - China (215,814) - Taiwan (188,862) - Australia (147,237) - Singapore (111,200) - Hong Kong (98,967) - Canada (96,089). The DFA said total tourism arrivals have so far grown by 9.44 percent, with arrivals from Taiwan increasing exoctic car rental denver the most by 22.98 percent. Air connectivity AirAsia Philippines and AirPhil Express launched their Kuala Lumpur-Clark and Kuala Lumpur-Manila exoctic car rental denver flights last June, while Cebu Pacific airlines launched its Kuala Lumpur-Cebu route this month. exoctic car rental denver Major initiatives undertaken in 2012 by the Embassy s tourism marketing office included: - the First Philippine Tourism Fair at the Berjaya Times Square last July - the frequent familiarization tours to Philippines tourism destinations for Malaysian tour operators and media personalities, the most recent of which was a five-day familiarization tour of Cebu and Bohol last December. For her part, Ong thanked the Embassy, the tour operators and the members of the media in actively pushing for Philippine tourism. It is due to everyone s unwavering exoctic car rental denver commitment to push for Philippine tourism that we have reached this milestone. We also like to thank the Embassy for its full support to our projects. We look forward to more projects and activities exoctic car rental denver to further boost the Philippines tourism, she said. LBG, GMA News