DoT exceeds visitor arrival target for 2023

(UPDATE) TOURISM Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco declared on Tuesday that international visitor arrivals to the country not only exceeded the objective but also surpassed the 5-million goal before the end of the year.

«I am happy to report that as of December 12, we have breached the 5-million mark in terms of international visitor arrivals, contributing an impressive 439.50 billion pesos in receipts,» Frasco said.

With the holiday break fast approaching, we are confident we will further breach our earlier target of 4.8 million for 2023, underscoring our commitment to continuous growth for the industry and the economy," she added.

The Philippines had received 5,069,752 foreign tourist arrivals as of December 11. Of this total, 4,658,123 (91.88 percent) are international visitors, and the remaining 411,629 (8.12 percent) are overseas Filipinos.

South Korea is the Philippines' leading source market, with 1,341,029 arrivals, followed by the United States of America (USA) with 836,694, Japan with 285,655, China with 252,171, and Australia with 238,487.

Meanwhile, Canada ranked sixth with 206,571, followed by Taiwan with 186,140, the United Kingdom with 141,516, Singapore with 140,633, and Malaysia with 92,383.

According to the UNWTO (United Nations World Tourism Organization) World Tourism Barometer, the average recovery rate in the Asia-Pacific region is 62 percent from January to September. The Philippines' recovery in terms of foreign visitor arrivals is yielding positive results, with a 65.54 percent increase from January to September 2023.

In terms of visitor receipts, Frasco said that the country is «recovering faster than expected,» with P458 billion in visitor receipts from January to November of this year, or 95.85 percent of 2019 figures.

Meanwhile, tourism generated 5.35 million jobs from 2.6 million tourist arrivals in 2022, or 11 jobs for every 100 Filipinos.

«We are optimistic that this number will increase this year, anticipating that we will have twice as many foreign visitors as we received last year. In pursuit of this growth direction, we are dedicated to creating a tourism landscape that is not only vibrant but also innovative,» Frasco said.

«We have