When it comes to the numbers, officials at the Department of Tourism in the Philippines can be forgiven for barely containing their glee. On a recent balmy day in the Ermita district of Manila, in the tourist department's colonial-style headquarters, the new Secretary of Tourism, Joseph Ace H. Durano, 35, holds forth on the state of Philippine tourism. "At this stage of development, it's no longer a demand problem," he says. "It's now a supply problem. Tourists who want to come to the Philippines seem to overflow, and to house each and everyone is not exactly an easy task." This problem is actually a sign of progress in the Philippines' more than 30-year-old tourism industry. Just two years ago the industry was recovering from the 1997 Asian financial crisis and the government was focused on creating demand. Then, last year, almost suddenly, the Philippine economy expanded by 6.1 percent, the highest rate in 15 years, according to the Asian Development Bank, and the tourist industry had to turn away a lot of visitors, according to Durano. Most were from North Asia, which now makes up 60 percent of the Philippine tourist market and includes Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, and China.
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机译：说到数字，菲律宾旅游局的官员几乎没有控制他们的高兴，这是可以原谅的。最近在马尼拉Ermita区的一个宜人的日子，在旅游部门殖民地风格的总部，新任旅游部长，现年35岁的Joseph Ace H. Durano坚持了菲律宾的旅游状况。他说：“在开发的这个阶段，这不再是需求问题。” “现在这是一个供应问题。想要来菲律宾的游客似乎满溢了，为每个人提供住房并不是一件容易的事。”这个问题实际上是菲律宾已有30多年历史的旅游业取得进展的迹象。就在两年前，该行业正从1997年亚洲金融危机中恢复过来，政府专注于创造需求。然后，据亚洲开发银行称，去年几乎突然，菲律宾经济增长了6.1％，是15年来的最高水平，而旅游业不得不吸引大量游客。大多数来自北亚，目前占菲律宾旅游市场的60％，其中包括香港，台湾，日本，韩国和中国。
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