Hanoi (VNA)– The Philippines’ Department of Tourism (DOT) on January 3 saidthat the country welcomed more than 5.4 million foreign tourists and earned482.54 PHP (8.67 billion USD) from them in 2023.
PhilippineTourism Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco revealed that 5,450,557 internationalvisitors entered the country in the year. Of the international arrivals, 91.8%were foreigners, while the remaining were overseas Filipinos. Thearrivals exceeded the Philippines' 4.8 million target for 2023.
TheRepublic of Korea retained its top position as the Philippines' primary sourceof international visitors. It was followed by the US, Japan, Australia, andChina. With the results, 2023 was a win for the country’s tourismindustry, she added.
Theminister noted that the Philippines has also reached an estimated 66% recoveryrate for its all-time high international visitor arrivals achieved in 2019.
Beforethe pandemic struck, the country recorded 482.15 billion PHP (8.66 billion USD)in international tourism earnings in 2019.
TheDOT said the country aims to hit 7.7 million international visitor arrivalsby 2024.
As a key economic driverin the Philippines, tourism contributed 6.2% of the country's gross domesticproduct in 2022, with at least 2.65 million inbound foreign visitors./.
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