MANILA, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- Nearly 900,000 Chinese tourists visited the Philippines in the first eight months of this year, soaring more than 35.67 percent, a government data showed on Monday.

The Philippine Department of Tourism (DOT) said 870,177 Chinese tourists have visited the Philippines so far, making China the Philippines' second largest source market, accounting for a 17.94 share of the total arrivals.

Overall, the DOT said foreign arrivals increased by 8.5 percent to 4.85 million in the first eight months of 2018.

The DOT said South Korea remained the Philippines' top source of tourists during the eight-month period despite posting a 0.91 percent decrease in tourists arrivals to 1.06 million.

The DOT said the United States is the third source market, following China.

Arrivals of American tourists also went up, posting an 8.2 percent increase or about 715,060, the DOT said, adding the Americans accounted for about 14.74 percent of the total arrivals.

Japan and Australia came fourth and fifth source markets, with recorded 715,060 and 431,779 arrivals, respectively.

The Philippines aims to hit 7.4 million in foreign arrivals this year.