Following the holidays, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) reported that the number of departures is gradually increasing.

The BI disclosed that between 30,000 and 31,000 departures occur daily across all international airports nationwide. The number is slightly higher than the 21,000 to 25,000 departures during the first week of December 2023.

A total of 13,224,308 departing passengers were processed between January and December last year, according to data provided by the BI. December was the peak month, with a total of 1,201,484 departures.

During this time, more than 7-million Filipinos left the country, among them overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).

"A lot of Filipinos have traveled this year as countries reopened their borders after the pandemic," Tansingco said. 

Prior to the pandemic, the BI recorded more than 8-million departing Filipinos.

South Koreans were the most frequent foreign visitors in 2023, departing their nation at a rate of nearly 1.55 million. This is followed by Americans with 1.19 million departures, and Chinese nationals with 406,000 departures.