Over 3 million international tourists traveled to the PH this year; here are the top source countries
South Korea may be a top destination for Filipino travelers, but it seems that the Philippines is proving popular with residents of South Korea as well.
The Philippines has welcomed over 3 million foreign tourists in the first half of the year, with South Korea delivering almost a quarter of the total number of international visitors.
According to latest data from the Department of Tourism (DOT), the Philippines recorded a total of 3,000,079 international visitor arrivals from January 1 to July 19, 2023, exceeding the 2.65 million international visitor arrivals recorded last year.
Travelers from South Korea, the United States of America (USA), Australia, Japan, and Canada make up the top five source markets of foreign arrivals in the country.
Here are the exact figures of international tourist arrivals this year according to DOT:
- South Korea - 741,658 (24.72%)
- United States of America (USA) - 550,569 - (18.35%)
- Australia - 146,062 (4.87%)
- Japan - 143,227 (4.77%)
- Canada - 132,018 (4.40%)
- China - 129,077 (4.30%)
- Taiwan - 104,211 (3.47%)
- United Kingdom - 85,847 (2.86%)
- Singapore - 81,656 (2.72%)
- Malaysia - 54,411 (1.81%)
Of the international arrivals, 91.36 percent are foreign tourists, while the remaining 8.64 percent are overseas Filipinos.
Amid the return in travel demand, DOT also revealed that the country’s inbound tourism receipts surged to 212.47 billion this year, which marks a staggering 502.02 percent increase from the same period last year.
The Philippines recorded P212,467,522,100.14 in tourism receipts from international visitors from the period of January 1 to June 30, 2023 compared to the P35,292,495,457.14 tourism revenue generated in 2022.
Tourism Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco said that the progress in the last seven months reflects the resurgence of Philippine tourism and stressed its importance in providing employment and livelihood to millions of Filipinos.
"We are grateful for the renewed interest worldwide in the Philippines which offers a multitude of reasons to love travel across our islands. We thank our fellow Filipinos who continue to travel domestically, supporting our local communities and families who are all part of the tourism value chain," the tourism chief said in a release.
The news comes on the heels of the controversial "Love the Philippines" tourism campaign launched last month, which was met with mixed reactions from netizens.
The new slogan and logo launched on June 27, 2023 was met with criticism for its non-originality, while the campaign video was found to have used stock footage from other countries.