Which Countries Bring the Most Tourists to the Philippines?

PHOTO BY Facebook/Department of Tourism - Philippines

(SPOT.ph) While Filipinos yearn to escape, we mean, travel internationally, more foreigners are flocking to the Philippines than ever before.

Tourism in the Philippines is experiencing a major upswing, with revenues reaching P282.17 billion in the first half of 2024. This represents a 32.81% increase compared to the P212.47 billion earned in the same period last year, according to the Department of Tourism (DOT).

From January to July 10, 2024, the country welcomed 3,173,694 tourists. A significant 92.55% of these visitors were foreign nationals, while only 7.45% were overseas Filipinos.

South Korea topped the list of foreign tourists with 824,798 visitors (25.99%). Next is the United States with 522,667 visitors (16.47%), followed by our close neighbors China (6.3%),Japan(5.95%), and Australia(4.33%). It was the same top five countries but in a different order in 2023, revealing a consistent preference among tourists from these countries for the Philippines as a travel destination.

Taiwan, Canada, the United Kingdom, and neighboring Southeast Asian nations, SingaporeandMalaysia, are the sixth to tenth source markets.

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Top tourist arrivals in the Philippines

The Philippines is consistently a top destination for South Koreans, a fact even before the COVID-19 pandemic. This trend continues to this day, with them favoring popular tourist destinations like Boracay, Cebu, and Bohol.

The World Travel & Tourism Council projects that the tourism sector’s contribution to the national economy will reach P5.4 trillion by the end of the year. This forecast surpasses the 2019 pre-pandemic record by 7.1%.

Employment in tourism is also expected to see a boost, with the sector anticipated to exceed 9.5 million jobs, comprising 20% of the national workforce. South Korea might top in numbers, but tourists from the United States brought in the most revenue in 2023.

"This is 215% higher than the tourism receipts from South Korea, so this is how important the American market (is). While the arrivals are fewer, the contribution is bigger," Philippine Tourism Director-Attache in New York Francisco Hilario Lardizabal was quoted as saying.

While the Philippines had been busy building stronger ties with the United States, Japan, and Australia through new tourism partnerships in recent years, its relationship with China has become rocky.

Chinese tourists visiting the Philippines have significantly lowered since the pandemic, according to Chinese Ambassador Huang Xilian. He noted the stark drop from almost 1.8 million Chinese tourists in 2019 to only 200,000 in 2023.

This is in due part of the Philippines tightening its visa requirements to combat fraudulent applications that have allowed independent—and often illegal—Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) to flourish in the country.

In 2022, Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri also cited Xilian’s statement that the Chinese government had actually blacklisted the Philippines as a tourist destination due to concerns over the safety of its nationals in relation to POGO operations.

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