THE Philippines has set a target of 7.7 million international visitor arrivals in 2024.

This number is below the pre-pandemic figure of 8.2 million visitors in 2019, but still higher compared to this year. 

In November, the Department of Tourism announced that the target of 4.8 million international arrivals had already been exceeded.

“What I can assure you is that we will push as hard as we can and fully activate our convergences with other government agencies in order to breach this target and bring us closer to pre-pandemic numbers even as we grapple with many forces beyond our control, globally and locally,” Tourism Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco said. 

She also thanked the domestic and foreign tourists for supporting the country’s tourism industry, which employs 5.35 million people.

“We have pushed hard to continue to promote the country to the rest of the world, even as we also develop our emerging destinations all over the country,” she said. 

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