Arrival of foreign tourists in PH plateauing, BI says may rise again in summer

BEACH GETAWAY Local and foreign tourists enjoy the clear waters and powdery white sand of Boracay Island, one of the top beach getaways in the Philippines. —MARIANNE BERMUDEZ

MANILA, Philippines – After the peak of foreign tourist arrivals during the Christmas and New Year holidays, arrivals recorded in the country’s airports are currently plateauing but are expected to rise again during the upcoming summer season, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) said on Monday.

BI Spokesperson Dana Sandoval said that the number of regular daily arrivals is currently at about 30,000 tourists.

However, tourist arrivals in the country can be expected to pick up come the summer season.

“Medyo nagpa-plateau na ito mula noong peak season noong January,” she said in a public briefing.

“(The number of our tourist arrivals is plateauing from the peak season recorded in January.)” she said in a public briefing.

“But we are expecting na tataas ito muli as the summer season creeps in, pagdating po ng summer season, unti-unti na naman iyang tataas,” Sandoval explained.

But we are expecting that this will rise again once the summer season creeps in.

During the Christmas weekend in December 2022, the BI recorded almost 62,000 arrivals. A total of 32,000 were logged on Christmas Eve alone while 28,968 arrivals were recorded on Christmas Day.

READ: BI: Nearly 62,000 passengers arrived in PH on Christmas weekend

A total of 2.6 million foreign tourists were recorded to have entered the Philippines from February to December 2022, following the opening of the country’s borders, according to the Department of Tourism (DOT).

The DOT said it anticipates 4.8 million tourist arrivals this year. From February to December 2022, following the opening of the country’s borders, according to the Department of Tourism. Meralyn Melitante, Inquirer.net trainee

READ: Over 2 million foreign tourist arrivals in 2022 — DOT

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