Despite the enduring pandemic, tourist arrivals in the country have now reached two million, surpassing the forecast of the Department of Tourism of 1.7 million for this year, bringing in more than P100 billion in revenues.

An official report from the DoT showed that as of 14 November, a total of 2,025,421 tourists arrived in the country. Of this number, 1,487,343 (73.43 percent) are foreign tourists, while 538,078, or 26.57 percent are overseas Filipinos.

On the other hand, the DoT's statistics office reported that visitor arrivals from February to September raked in an estimated P100.7 billion, an increase of P4.94 billion from the same period last year.

The United States continues to top tourist arrivals with 385,121 followed by South Korea and Australia with 285,583 and 96,297, respectively.

Landing in the fourth and fifth spots are Canada with 89,248 and the United Kingdom with 77,267.

Other countries that made it to the top 10 list are Japan with 75,564, India with 41,292, Singapore with 39,801, Malaysia with 35,128, and Vietnam with 32,970.

"Our latest figures have reached well beyond the 1.7 million tourist projections of the DoT. This goes to show that there is such a huge demand for travel into our beautiful country and that the Marcos administration's prioritization of tourism is placing our country on the right track to recovery," Tourism Secretary Maria Christina Frasco said on Tuesday.

She added: "We therefore must meet this with the continued implementation of enabling mechanisms that will convey not only the country's openness to welcome more tourists but also conduciveness to the tourism business and livelihood opportunities for our fellow Filipinos."

Another citation

Meanwhile, the Philippines has been chosen as the World's Leading Dive Destination and the World's Leading Beach Destination for 2022, besting all other countries at the 29th World Travel Awards Grand Final Gala Ceremony held in Muscat, Oman.

The Philippine dive portfolio continues its four-year winning streak for the World's Leading Dive Destination title as it lorded over the world's finest diving destinations which include the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, the Cayman Islands, Maldives, Fiji, Mexico, Azores Islands, French Polynesia, Galapagos Islands, St. Kitts and Belize.

As the World's Leading Beach Destination, the Philippines also bested other beaches around the world, including previous awardees such as Maldives, The Algarve in Portugal, Jamaica, Galapagos Islands in Ecuador, and the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Three partner tourism establishments also shared the World Travel Awards distinction: Amanpulo, as the World's Leading Dive Resort in 2022; City of Dreams Manila, as the World's Leading Casino Resort in 2022; and Ascott Bonifacio Global City Manila, as the World's Leading Serviced Apartments 2022.

The DoT was also nominated as the World's Leading Tourist Board this year, as well as Siargao as the World's Leading Island Destination, and Intramuros as the World's Leading Tourist Attraction.