The Department of Tourism (DOT) is optimistic on the continued transformation of Philippine tourism under the Marcos administration in the succeeding years, as it successfully breached its year-end targets and achieved milestones for 2023.
“In the face of unprecedented challenges, Philippine tourism has shown remarkable resilience,” Tourism Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco said during the Department’s Presentation of Accomplishments at the Dusit Thani Manila.
“Since the beginning of the Marcos administration, we saw the country as being one of the last in the ASEAN to open up to tourism once again post-pandemic. The work that that demanded was innovation, adaptability, and the willingness to, as they say, get our hands dirty and do the work that had to be done to strengthen the pillars of Philippine tourism if only to give our country a fighting chance not only at recovery, but most importantly, at transformation. Under the visionary leadership of our President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos, Jr., the Philippines has begun to witness the fruits of the plans that have been put in place under his vision for transformation,” Frasco added.
The tourism chief reported international visitor arrivals to the country not only surpassed the target but also breached the five-million mark before year end.
“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. 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,” the tourism head said.
“With the holiday break fast approaching, we are confident we will further breach our earlier target of 4.8 million for 2023.”
As of December 11, the Philippines has received a total of 5,069,752 international visitor arrivals. Of this number, 4,658,123 or 91.88 percent are foreign tourists, while the remaining 411,629 or 8.12 percent are Overseas Filipinos.
South Korea ranks first as the Philippines’ top 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 landed on the sixth place with 206,571, followed by Taiwan with 186,140, United Kingdom with 141,516, Singapore with 140,633, and Malaysia with 92,383.
According to the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) World Tourism Barometer, the average recovery rate of the Asia Pacific region is at 62 percent from January to September. The Philippines’ recovery in terms of international tourist arrivals is bearing promising results as it has already reached 65.54 percent from January-September 2023.
In terms of visitor receipts, Frasco shared that the country is “recovering faster than expected” with P458 billion visitor receipts from January to November this year, or already 95.85 percent of 2019 figures.
“Tourism created 5.35 million jobs from 2.6 million visitor arrivals in 2022, or 11 for every 100 Filipinos.”
Meanwhile, tourism created 5.35 million jobs from 2.6 million visitor arrivals in 2022, or 11 for every 100 Filipinos.
“We are optimistic this number will increase this year, anticipating that we will have twice as much foreign visitors that 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. We have formulated policies that address government regulations that may not necessarily apply anymore especially with the post-pandemic landscape, and trying as best we can, in convergence with our fellow government agencies, to push for changes to push for changes in regulation and the liberalization of visa policies coming into the Philippines, the ultimate goal of course, is to accomplish our President’s vision of the Philippines becoming a tourism powerhouse,” she said.
Earlier this year, President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. had approved the National Tourism Development Plan (NTDP) 2023-2028, which serves as the DOT’s roadmap in the next few years, with connectivity, convenience, and equality as key strategies.
