International travel bounces back

The Bureau of Immigration on Sunday is optimistic that international travel and tourism have recovered from the coronavirus pandemic as it recorded 12.6 million arrivals in total — more than two times the 6.1 million arrivals that were recorded in 2022.

BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco said that the data — gathered from January to December 2023 — showed that South Koreans topped the list of foreign arrivals with 1,186,135 travelers, followed by Americans with 1,186,135 million arrivals, and the Chinese with 417,128 travelers.

Included in the top arrivals list are the Japanese, with 358,534 arrivals, followed by Australians with 302,177 inbound travelers while other nationalities that topped the list are Canadians, Taiwanese, British, Indians and Malaysians.

The BI said that the month of December had the highest number of arrivals, with 1.36 million travelers flocking to the Philippines which nearly matches the 1.7 million arrivals in December 2019 before the pandemic.

"The figures we are seeing are a good sign. It shows that revenge travel is real and that international travel and tourism have regained their momentum after the worldwide lockdowns," Tansingco said.

He added that they project the numbers to be higher in 2024 and expect around 15 million arrivals for the year.