MANILA, March 17 (Xinhua) -- The number of Chinese inbound travelers to the Philippines surged by 235 percent year-on-year in the first two months of 2024, a Philippine lawmaker said Sunday.

Citing data from the Philippines' Department of Tourism, Representative Marvin Rillo, vice chairperson of the committee on tourism in the House of Representatives, said that 82,314 Chinese travelers entered the Philippines in January and February this year, making China the third-biggest supplier of foreign visitors to the Southeast Asian country.

The surge "is very encouraging, and we hope that the uptrend will keep going in the months ahead," Rillo said, adding the surge can sustain full recovery of the highly labor-intensive tourism sector and create more jobs for Filipinos in services.

As a key economic driver in the Philippines, tourism has a significant contribution to its economy. In 2023, international tourism receipts surged to 8.67 billion U.S. dollars, with over 5.4 million inbound foreign travelers.

In the first two months this year, the Philippines has received 1.09 million foreign travelers, with South Korea and the United States as its top two source markets. Enditem

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