THE Philippine tourism industry saw all-time high visitor revenues from international tourists in 2024 at P760 billion, the Department of Tourism (DOT) said.
In a televised briefing, Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco said this is an over 9 percent increase from 2023 visitor revenues, and a 126 percent recovery from the P600 billion visitor receipts in 2019.
“Yung P760 billion from international visitor receipts shows that economically our recovery in Philippine tourism performance has already exceeded our pre-pandemic performance,” Frasco said.
She added: “Nakikita natin na in comparison with our ASEAN neighbors, yung tourism spend per capita by our international visitors is over $2,000, which ranks us very high in terms of spending.”
The tourism chief meanwhile noted that data from the Philippine Statistics Authority’s Labor Force Survey showed that the tourism sector directly and indirectly employed over 16.4 million Filipinos during the first quarter of 2024.
The increase in revenues from international tourists comes despite a significant drop in the DOT’s budget for tourism promotions in 2024. It was only at P200 million, down from the P1.2 billion in 2023.
Frasco said that the allocation was further decreased in 2025, with Congress reducing the budget for tourism promotions to P100 million from the agency’s originally proposed budget of P500 million.
The tourism chief also noted that there was a significant drop in the number of Chinese tourists that visited the Philippines in 2024, which the DOT attributed mainly to the government’s suspension of e-visas for Chinese nationals in 2023.
Frasco said this has hurt the Philippines’ ability to reach its target projections.
The Philippines was eyeing to bring in 7.7 million foreign tourists in 2024.
With the decline in Chinese tourists, Frasco said international visitors from South Korea, United States, and Japan comprised the biggest market for the Philippine tourism sector in 2024.
The DOT, meanwhile, reported an increase in Australian tourists in the Philippines last year. Frasco said the Philippines is also looking into capturing a significant portion of the Indian tourist market, following a directive by President Marcos Jr. to explore an electronic visa option for Indian nationals coming to the country.
“Syempre ang tinitignan natin na large opportunity for the Philippines is India. We are grateful that the President has directed that an electronic visa or electronic travel option for Indians may be explored, and we are hopeful that the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Bureau of Immigration can mount that for this year,” she said. (ABS-CBN News)
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