Philippines logs over 3 million tourist arrivals in first half of 2024

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Tourism on Thursday reported that the international visitor arrivals of the country reached over three million in the first half of the year.

As of July 10, the DOT said that the country has welcomed 3,173,694 inbound tourists. Of which, 2,937,293 or 92.55% are foreigners while 236,401 or 7.45% are overseas Filipinos.

This was also reported by Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco on Thursday during the opening of the MICECON 2024 or the Philippine meetings, incentive travel, conventions and exhibitions (MICE) conference held in Clark, Pampanga.

The tourism department said that South Korea remains the top source market with 824,798 South Korean visitors entering the Philippines or 25.99% of the international tourist arrivals.

It is followed by the United States of America, delivering 522,667 (16.74%). China comes third with 199,939 visitors (6.30%), followed by Japan with 188,805 tourists (5.95%), and Australia with 137,391 visitors (4.33%). 

Rounding up the sixth to tenth top source of foreign arrivals are Taiwan, Canada, the United Kingdom and Southeast Asian countries such as Singapore and Malaysia.

Frasco said that the Philippines is anticipating the tourist arrival numbers to increase along with the revenue generated and the number of Filipinos employed in tourism-related industry.

This year, the country has a baseline target of 7.7 million arrivals.

“Many projects aimed at improving the country's connectivity and enhancing our visitors' convenience are also in the pipeline to sustain the good work we have started," Frasco said in a statement.

Meanwhile, based on the DOT’s statistical monitoring reports, tourism earnings from international visitors are estimated at P282.17 billion from January 1 to June 30, 2024 or 32.81% higher than the P212.47 billion visitor receipts recorded in the same period last year.

For the DOT chief, the increase in tourism earnings in the first semester of 2024 is a testament to the “relentless efforts” of the current administration in revitalizing the tourism sector.

“This 32.81 percent rise from last year's figures not only showcases the growing appeal of the Philippines as a premier travel