Phl fetes 1 millionth South Korean visitor

MANILA, Philippines - The one millionth visitor from South Korea arrived yesterday morning at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).

Businessman Han Kook Nam, 39, arrived at the airport on a Philippine Airlines (PAL) flight from Seoul.

The arrival of the South Korean tourist marked a major milestone in the country’s tourism industry as it reached its target of the first one million tourists from a single market source.

Han was welcomed by Tourism Undersecretary Daniel Corpuz, Meliton Pascual of PAL, Henry Lee of EDSA Shangri-la, Manila International Airport Authority general manager Jose Honrado and Immigration Commissioner Ricardo David Jr.

The lucky passenger from South Korea was selected electronically as he passed through the immigration counter at the NAIA Terminal 2.

Han received two round trip business class tickets for Manila-Incheon, a two-night stay at the Shangri-la hotel in EDSA or in Cebu, and a package tour for two courtesy of the Department of Tourism.

 The immigration’s central computer system has been programmed to buzz once the one millionth Korean passenger is processed at the counters.

Korea remains the country’s largest tourism source market with 832,437 tourist arrivals or 23.93 percent of the 3.48 million total visitors from January to October this year, according to Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez Jr.

No holiday break for BOC personnel

Meanwhile, Bureau of Customs (BOC) personnel in charge of profiling inbound and outbound passengers at the NAIA have decided to forego their vacation in anticipation of the influx of passengers this Yuletide season.

The 11 personnel of the Customs Intelligence and Investigation Division (CIID) have been assigned at the three NAIA terminals, according to Verne Enciso, chief of the CIID-NAIA.

“The directive that I received was that we should put up a skeletal force for Christmas and New Year, but since we have limited personnel it was decided that we would forego our vacation to implement vigilance at the airport,” Enciso said.

The Customs personnel will be on duty from Dec. 22 to Jan. 2. – – With Evelyn Macairan