MORE than five million people visited the Philippines in 2023, surpassing the target of 4.8 million and contributing P482 billion to the economy, government data showed Tuesday.

The Department of Tourism (DOT) said there were 5,450,557 international visitors from January 1 to December 31, 2023, of which 91.80%, or 5,003,475, are foreigners, while 8.20%, or 447,082, are overseas Filipinos.

South Korea is still the country’s main source of international visitors, accounting for 26.41% of the total, or 1,439,336 tourists.

It was followed by the United States with 903,299 tourists (16.57%), Japan with 305,580 (5.61%), Australia with 266,551 (4.89%), and China with 263,836 (4.84%).

The other top source markets last year were Canada, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, Singapore, and Malaysia.

International tourism receipts totaled P482.54 billion, up 124.87% from P214.58 billion in 2022.

It also narrowly exceeded the pre-pandemic figure of P482.15 billion in 2019.

The DOT aims for at least 7.7 million international visitor arrivals in 2024.