The Department of Tourism (DOT) on Monday reported the Philippines posted tourism receipts of P760.5 billion in 2024, a record, and a 9.04-percent increase from P697.46 billion recorded in 2023.
In a statement, DOT Secretary Christina Frasco said this achievement establishes tourism as a vital economic pillar of the country.
Frasco said exceeded the estimated P600.01 billion revenues pre-pandemic, in 2019 by 26.75 percent. This translates to a recovery rate of 126.75 percent.
“With these figures, it is clear that the Philippine tourism industry is not only bouncing back but also evolving and expanding, contributing significantly to the nation’s economic stability and growth,” Frasco said.
The DOT also reported visitor arrivals rose 9.15 percent to 5,949,350 in 2024 from 5,450,557 in 2023.
Of that number, 91.42 percent or 5,438,967 were foreigners while the remaining 8.58 percent or 510,383 were Filipinos living overseas.
South Korea maintained its position as the top source of foreign tourists, with arrivals increasing to 1.57 million from 1.45 million in 2023, garnering more than 26 percent of the total market share.
The United States ranked second, with 947,891 visitors in 2024, increasing from 903,299 in 2023.
Japan, meanwhile, emerged as a standout market with a 27 percent growth in arrivals, reaching 388,316 visitors from its previous year’s 305,580. Other consistent contributors included Australia (272,215) and Canada (223,944).
Emerging markets like Taiwan and Singapore demonstrated strong growth momentum, with arrivals reaching 208,736 and 157,264, respectively.
However, the same DOT data also saw a need to recover more tourists from the top tourist markets, particularly, China. Based on comparison of data of visitor arrivals in 2019 and 2024, the Philippines suffered a huge loss of tourists from China.
During her year-end briefing with the media recently, Secretary Frasco acknowledged the “headwinds” or challenges that were beyond the DOT’s control such as weather disturbances “economic, environmental, and geopolitical forces beyond our control, to budgetary constraints and visa liberalization delays vis-à-vis our competitors.”
