Tourist arrivals hit 5.45 million in 2023, generating for the economy P482.54 billion in revenues, the Department of Tourism (DOT) reported yesterday.
In a statement, DOT said visitor receipts in 2023 surpassed those in the pre-pandemic year of 2019 of P482.15 billion.
The DOT said the number of tourists was 650,000 higher than its target of 4.8 million projected for the year, and more than double than the 2.65 million arrivals in 2022.
This number represents a 66-percent recovery rate for its all-time high international visitor arrivals achieved in 2019 of 8.26 million.
Last year’ s revenues represented a 124.87- percent increase from P214.58 billion in 2022.
Of the 5.45 million international visitors, 91.8 percent or 5 million were foreigners and the remaining 8.2 percent or 447,082 are overseas Filipinos.
South Korea retains its top spot as the country’s main source of international visitors, getting 26.41 percent or 1.44 million. It was followed by the United States with 903,299 tourists (16.57 percent) ; Japan, 305,580 (5.61 percent); Australia , 266,551 (4.89 percent) and China, 263,836 (4.84 percent).
Other source markets after China were Canada, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, Singapore, and Malaysia.
The DOT is targeting a baseline target of 7.7 million international visitor arrivals this year, still lower than the peak number in 2019 but higher than the visitors of 7.12 million in 2018.
“Looking ahead to 2024, our commitment to the transformation of Philippine tourism is unwavering. Guided by our National Tourism Development Plan (NTDP) 2023-2028, we are poised for a thriving tourism landscape, evident in surpassing our targets in international and domestic arrivals and receipts, fostering economic prosperity and further job creation for our people,” said DOT Secretary Christina Frasco.
The NTDP, the administration’s blueprint and development framework for the tourism industry, contains the DOT’s seven strategic goals: improvement of tourism infrastructure and accessibility; cohesive and comprehensive digitalization and connectivity; enhancement of overall tourist experience; equalization of tourism product development and promotion; diversification of the tourism portfolio through multidimensional tourism; maximization of domestic and international tourism; and strengthening tourism governance through close collaborations with national and local government units and stakeholders.
