The Department of Tourism (DoT) said they remain optimistic that the 7.7 million foreign tourist arrivals will be hit this year, as the visitor arrivals via airports throughout the country are surging in the year to September.

During the Economic Journalists Association of the Philippines-San Miguel Corporation Aviation Forum 2024, Tourism Undersecretary Verna Buensuceso, during her talk on “NAIA and the Philippines Tourism Perspective” segment, reported that visitor’s arrivals to the country in the first nine months through the international gateways grew 6.26 percent compared to the same period last year.

Topping the arrival figure is the Ninoy Aquino International Airport with 2,724,151 visitors, followed by Mactan-Cebu International Airport with 732,273, Clark International Airport with 244,977; Bohol-Panglao International Airport, 209,863; Kalibo International Airport, 118,677 and the Caticlan International Airport with 33,610 arrivals.

“What is interesting about the DoT is that we are now increasing the connectivity of our destinations directly into markets. For example, Cebu Pacific is starting its flights from Iloilo to Singapore and Hong Kong, and Davao to Bangkok for Air Asia, and Philippine Airlines, there’s Manila to Nagoya and Manila to Seattle. These are new developments that we welcome very much to be able to open up new destinations and markets for us,” she said.

Further in her presentation, the DoT official said the Philippines has the biggest domestic tourism market in Southeast Asia with $66.2 billion in 2024 compared to Thailand at $36.8 billion; Indonesia at $23.4 billion; Malaysia at $18.2 billion and Vietnam at $13.7 billion.

7.7 million, a moving target

The DoT is aiming to receive 7.7 million foreign tourists this year but the DoT official said the number is a moving target.

“Due to the many headwinds, such as global geopolitical tensions, we have a moving target. But we are working hard to be able to accomplish and achieve that,” Buensuceso stressed.

As of August, the country has already received 3.7 million foreign tourists, consisting of top 10 foreign nationals such as South Koreans, Americans, Chinese, Japanese, Australians, Taiwanese, Canadians, British and nationals from neighboring countries such as Singaporeans and Malaysians.

In an earlier interview, Tourism Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco said that foreign tourist should not be the benchmark to prove that the Philippines has a rosy tourism industry, but the tourism receipts, which continue to pile up.

The country’s tourism receipts, or the expenditures made by international inbound visitors, including payments to national carriers for international transport, have achieved 100 percent recovery since Covid-19, surpassing the global average, according to Frasco.

Frasco said tourism earnings from inbound visitors are currently pegged at P282.17 billion from 1 January to 30 June, or approximately 32.81 percent higher than the P212.47 billion revenue versus the same period last year.