Over 1.2 million international tourist arrivals in the Philippines counted (January 1 to March 5, 2024)

If the newest data about the 1.2 million international tourist arrivals released by the Department of Tourism (DOT) for the period of January 1 to March 5, 2024, is indeed true and accurate, then it looks like achieving the 7.7 million international tourist arrivals target for the Philippines for 2024 is doable. The DOT recently announced that that 1,227,815 international tourist arrivals (which includes both foreign tourists and Filipinos based overseas) were counted during the first 65 days of the year, according to a news article by the Philippine News Agency (PNA).

To put things in perspective, posted below is an excerpt from the PNA news article. Some parts in boldface…

The Philippines is off to a good start in reaching its year-end arrival target after getting 1.2 million foreign visitors in the first two months of 2024 alone, the Department of Tourism (DOT) reported Thursday.

As of March 5, international tourist arrivals to the Philippines have tallied 1,227,815.

Foreign tourist arrivals took the lion’s share with 1,160,129 or 94.49 percent while overseas Filipinos make up the remaining 67,686.

Speaking at the Philippine Pavilion at the Internationale Tourismus-Börse (ITB) 2024 Convention in Germany, Tourism Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco said this is 22.86 percent higher than the 999,390 arrivals received by the country in the same period in 2023.

“I would like to express my profound gratitude first to all our Philippine sellers who continue to champion Philippine tourism. As of today (March 5), 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,” she said.

South Korea remains the country’s top source market for visitors, with 349,956 or 28.50 percent of the total, followed by the United States with 195,603 (15.93 percent), China with 85,876 (6.99 percent), Japan with 73,159 (5.96 percent), and Canada landing in the fifth spot with 50,555 (4.12 percent).

Australia took the sixth spot with 50,488 (4.11 percent), Taiwan with 42,955 (3.50 percent), the United Kingdom with 30,507 (2.48 percent), Singapore with 25,253 (2.06 percent), and Germany with 20,816 (1.70 percent).

In January, the country’s visitor receipts also grew by 4.84 percent to USD652.26 million from the USD622.14 million recorded in the same month last year.

By doing the math, 1,227,815 international tourist arrivals divided by the first 65 days of 2024 is equivalent to 18,889.46 per day. Multiply that by 366 days for 2024 (a leap year), the total would be 6,913,542 which is several hundreds of thousands of international tourist arrivals short of the declared target. The DOT and the rest of tourism industry’s stakeholders still have lots of work to do to ensure that more than enough visitors from overseas will come into the country and add to the nation’s economy. It should be remembered that the Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) and China Banking Corp. found the nation’s Philippine tourism recovery still lacking.

Let me end this piece by asking you readers: What is your reaction to this latest development? Do you think the reforms and initiatives the Department of Tourism (DOT) executed last year are generating positive results right now? Did you notice the lack of Arab nations among the top markets of international visitors the DOT declared? Do you think there is enough momentum and time for the Philippines to be able to attract 7,700,000 international tourist arrivals by the end of the year?

You may answer in the comments below. If you prefer to answer privately, you may do so by sending me a direct message online.

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