Tourism in PH for 2022 Surpassed Forecasts

Tourism in the Philippines exceeded expectations set by the government as more visitors flocked to the country this year amid the further easing of COVID-19 related restrictions, according to recent data released by the Department of Tourism (DOT).

Data from DOT published on November 15 showed that since the beginning of the relaxation of border restrictions in February 2022, visitor arrivals to the Philippines exceeded the 2 million mark by the time of the publishing of the report, and accounted for over PHP100 billion in visitor receipts.

DOT Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco said that there continues to be a demand for traveling to the country.

“Our latest figures have reached well beyond the 1.7 Million tourist projections of the DOT. This goes to show that there is such a huge demand for travel into our beautiful country,” Frasco said.

“We therefore must meet this with the continued implementation of enabling mechanisms that will convey not only the country’s openness to welcome more tourists but also conduciveness to tourism business and livelihood opportunities for our fellow Filipinos,” Frasco added.

As of November 14, the DOT tallied 2,025,421 visitor arrivals to the country, of which 73.43 percent or 1,487,343 were foreign tourists.

26.57 or 538,078 are arrivals from overseas Filipinos.

Moreover, the DOT also reported a staggering growth in tourism in September 2022, as the country profited a total of PHP100.7 billion from visitor arrivals. This is a 1,938.14 percent increase compared to the PHP4.94 billion that the country raked in from visitor arrivals in the same period of the previous year.

Of all foreign visitor arrivals in the country, arrivals from the United States held the top spot with visitors tallied at 19.01 percent, or 385,121; South Korea came in at second with 285,583, or 14.10 percent; while Australia placed third at 96,297, or 4.75%. (GFB)