ARRIVALS of international travelers in the Philippines reached 3.63 million from January to August 30 this year, or almost 76 percent of government’s targeted 4.8-million tourist arrivals for 2023.
In a presentation before the Rotary Club of Manila on Thursday, Tourism Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco said the eight-month figure “surpassed the total volume of visitors received in 2022” of 2.65 million arrivals. Data from the Department of Tourism (DOT) showed, however, this year’s arrivals was 35.71 percent less than the 5.6 million who arrived in the first eight months of prepandemic 2019.
Of the total visitor arrivals from January to August 30, foreign tourists accounted for 91.42 percent or 3.22 million, while the rest at 311,727 were overseas Filipinos, or Philippine passport holders permanently residing abroad. Some 3.62 million of the total tourists arrived by air, while 16,680 entered the country by sea.
SoKor top source market
South Korea remained the top source market of inbound tourists at 935,849. It was followed by the United States at 629,477; Japan at 193,676; China at 173,319; and Australia at 167,689. Canada followed at 152,080 tourists; then Taiwan at 130,902; the United Kingdom at 106,807; Singapore at 95,986; and Malaysia at 64,367.
The DOT is optimistic its inbound arrivals target this year will be exceeded with the implementation of an electronic visa (e-visa) platform by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) for Chinese tourists. The DFA launched the e-visa website (https://visa.e.gov.ph) in Shanghai on August 24, despite what a BusinessMirror source intimated were continuing security concerns by government intelligence agencies and the tentativeness of the site’s developer due to hacking concerns.
At the launch, DFA Assistant Secretary for Consular Affairs Henry Bensurto Jr. told reporters the agency was beta-testing the platform in Shanghai “because it has the highest number of applicants in China…. We want to be gradual, especially since it’s our first time and it’s an uncharted water for us.” Once the platform’s issues are ironed out, it will be rolled out in the DFA’s outposts in China, and in India. The DOT has been blaming the DFA for not approving enough visitor visas of Chinese nationals. (See, “DOT presses DFA on ways to lure Chinese tourists,” in the BusinessMirror, July 12, 2023.)
New China map
The new e-visa platform was launched amid continuing diplomatic differences between China and the Philippines. Prior to the pandemic, China was the Philippines’s second largest source market for inbound travelers in 2019 with 1.74 million tourists, accounting for some 21 percent of the 8.26-million tourist arrivals that year.
Meanwhile, at the Rotary Club of Manila, Frasco reiterated DOT programs to “usher in the golden era of tourism” including the improvement of airports and seaports, implementation of tourism road infrastructure projects in partnership with the Department of Public Works and Highways, the soon-to-be launched upgraded Travel App developed by the Tourism Promotions Board, the crafting of the Disaster Risk Reduction and Management operations manual for tourism, and the expansion of cruise tourism across the country.
Image credits: Nonoy Lacza