The Philippines stands on an encouraging start in achieving its 2024 tourist arrival target after getting 1.2 million foreign visitors in the first two months of this year.
The Department of Tourism (DOT) reported that 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 last year.
South Korea remains as the country’s top source market for visitors, with 349,956 or 28.50% of the total, followed by the United States with 195,603 (15.93%), China with 85,876 (6.99%), Japan with 73,159 (5.96%), and Canada landing in the fifth spot with 50,555 (4.12%).
Australia took the sixth spot with 50,488 (4.11%), Taiwan with 42,955 (3.50%), the United Kingdom with 30,507 (2.48%), Singapore with 25,253 (2.06%), and Germany with 20,816 (1.70%).
In January, the country’s visitor receipts also grew by 4.84% to US$652.26 million from the US$622.14 million recorded in the same month last year.
The Philippines targets to generate 7.7 million arrivals this year after breaching its 4.8 million arrival target and capped 2023 with 5.45 million international visitors.
