MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Tourism announced on Saturday that the Philippines has breached the two million target in 2022 of international tourists visiting the country.
According to latest data from the Department of Tourism (DOT), the country recorded 2,002,304 international visitor arrivals from Jan. 1 to May 12, 2023.
This figure is already higher than the entire year’s target for 2022 of 1.7 million foreign visitors.
Tourism Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco expressed optimism about the prospects for Philippine tourism.
“We are at the cusp of the massive success of tourism in the Philippines,” Frasco said.
South Korea was the top source market for the Philippines, contributing almost a quarter of the total number of visitors with 487,502 (24.35 percent).
The US came in second with 352,894 (17.62 percent), followed by Australia with 102,494 (5.12 percent), Canada with 98,593 (4.92 percent) and Japan with 97,329 (4.86 percent).
The DOT recorded P168.52 billion in inbound visitor receipts from January to April 2023, which is 782.59 percent higher than the P19.1 billion in tourism revenues generated in the same period last year.