MANILA – The Department of Tourism (DOT) surpassed its year-end target for 2023 as international visitor arrivals in the country reached more than 5 million from January 1 to December 31, 2023 and recording more than PHP480 billion in international tourism receipts, according to Tourism Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco.
Based on the monitoring data of the DOT, of the 5,450,557 international visitors who entered the country last year, 91.80 percent or 5,003,475 recorded are foreigners while the remaining 8.20 percent or 447,082 are overseas Filipinos.
This new record is around 650,000 higher than it’s target of 4.8 million international visitors initially projected to visit the country for the entire 2023.
On the top spot of the country’s main source of international visitors, South Korea retains its top spot with 26.41 percent or delivering 1,439,336 foreign tourists.
This is followed by the United States with 903,299 tourists or 16.57 percent; Japan with 305,580 or 5.61 percent; Australia with 266,551 or 4.89 percent; and China with 263,836 or 4.84 percent.
Other foreigners who visited the country from other top source markets after China were from Canada, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, Singapore and Malaysia.
Surge in International Tourism Revenue
The country’s international tourism receipts also surged and is a factor in the recovery of the local tourism industry.
According to Frasco, the country’s international tourism revenue reached an estimated PHP482.54 billion from January 1 to December 31, 2023, higher by 124.87 percent compared to the estimated visitor receipts from the same period last year at PHP214.58 billion.
The Philippines has also reached an estimated 66 percent recovery rate for its all-time high international visitor arrivals achieved before the Covid 19 pandemic in 2019.
By 2024, the DOT is earmarking a baseline target of 7.7 million international visitor arrivals.
According to Frasco, such numbers reflect the performance of the tourism industry under the Marcos Administration.
“Since we took office, we have set our goals for the industry not only in terms of international visitor arrivals but most importantly, the number of Filipinos, including their families, who will benefit from the opportunities generated by our constant and continuous efforts to make the industry prosper more than what we have aimed for. We assure the President, including our partners from the public and private sectors, that we will continue to realize the vision of this administration to make tourism a catalyst for economic growth and resurgence,” Frasco said.
