Tourist arrivals breach 3M mark in July

Three million tourists had already visited the Philippines as of July 19, figures from the Department of Tourism (DOT) showed. 

The DOT recorded 3,000,079 international visitor arrivals from January 1 to July 19, 2023, with foreigners comprising 91.36 percent, or 2,740,802, while the remaining 8.64 percent, or 259,277, are overseas Filipinos.

Nearly a quarter of all tourists during the period were from South Korea (741,658; 24.72 percent), followed by the United States with 550,569 (18.35 percent); Australia with 146,062 (4.87 percent); Japan with 143,227 (4.77 percent); and Canada with 132,018 (4.40 percent).

Rounding out the top 10 were China with 129,077 (4.30 percent); Taiwan with 104,211 (3.47 percent); the United Kingdom with 85,847 (2.86 percent); Singapore with 81,656 (2.72 percent); and Malaysia with 54,411 (1.81 percent).

In a statement, DOT Secretary Christina Frasco said the figures reflected ”continued robust recovery and the gains of the Marcos administration towards the resurgence of Philippine tourism.”

”We are grateful for the renewed interest worldwide in the Philippines, which offers a multitude of reasons to love [traveling] across the islands,” she said.

She also thanked Filipinos who travel within the country, ”supporting our local communities and families who are all part of the tourism value chain.”

The Philippines aims to draw 4.8 million foreign tourists this year.

To encourage more tourists from abroad to visit the country, the administration unveiled the “Love the Philippines” campaign on June 27.

However, only a few days after the campaign’s launch, it was revealed that the promotional video created by the ad firm the DOT hired for the initiative used foreign stock footage to portray tourist attractions in the Philippines.

The advertising firm that created the video, DDB Philippines, later issued an apology for what it called an “unfortunate oversight,” but the DOT ultimately decided to cancel the contract.

Still, the DOT said it would continue using “Love the Philippines” despite the call of Senate tourism committee chairperson Nancy Binay to drop the slogan.