Over 1.2 million int’l visitors arrived in first two months of 2024 — DOT

FILE PHOTO: Local and foreign tourists enjoy the clear waters and powdery white sand of Boracay Island, one of the top beach getaways in the Philippines. INQUIRER/MARIANNE BERMUDEZ

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines’ international visitors have breached the 1.2-million mark over the first two months of 2024, the Department of Tourism (DOT) announced.

Compared to the same period last year, arrivals increased 22.89 percent, the DOT added.

Tourism Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco made the announcement on March 5, adding that it is a “robust indication of the future of Philippine tourism.”

“I would like to express my profound gratitude first to all our Philippine sellers who continue to champion Philippine tourism. As of today, the Philippines has received over 1.2 million international visitors: a robust indication of the future of Philippine tourism. Cheers to all the reasons to celebrate and Love the Philippines,” said Frasco at the Internationale Tourismus-Börse (ITB) 2024 Convention in Berlin, Germany.

DOT earlier announced that it will target 7.7 million international visitors in 2024.

In a statement issued Thursday, DOT presented a breakdown of the 1.2 million international visitors as follows:

• Foreign tourist arrivals (1,160,129 or 94.9 percent)
• Overseas Filipinos (67,686 or 5.51 percent)

“This is 22.86 percent higher than the 999,390 arrivals received by the country in the same period in 2023,” said DOT.

South Korea is still PH’s top visitors

Citing their data, DOT likewise disclosed that South Korea remained the country’s “top source market” for visitors. In the first two months of 2024, the Philippines recorded 349,956 visitors from South Korea.

This was followed by the United States of America (195,603); China (85,876); Japan (73,159); and Canada (50,555).

Other top countries where these international visitors came from are as follows:

• Australia (50,488)
• Taiwan (42,955)
• United Kingdom (30,507)
• Singapore (25,253)
• Germany (20,816)

With these international visitors, DOT emphasized that estimated visitor receipts for January 2024 alone totaled USD 652.26 million.

“[This is] 4.84 percent higher than the USD 622.14 million recorded in January 2023,” DOT noted.