MANILA – One year into the administration of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., the Department of Tourism (DOT) is celebrating the Philippines’ rising global reputation and appeal to international travelers. Ahead of the President’s second State of the Nation Address (SONA), the DOT acknowledged the country’s considerable progress in becoming a premier tourist hub in Asia.
The Philippines continues to make international headlines, garnering recognition and awards from top global bodies in the tourism industry. The 2022 World Travel Awards (WTA) honored the country with titles such as the World’s Leading Beach Destination, the World’s Leading Dive Destination, and Asia’s Leading Tourist Attraction (Intramuros).
The accolades didn’t stop there, with the Uzakrota Global Travel Awards in Turkey declaring the Philippines as the World’s Leading Country Destination. The Halal in Travel Awards 2023 in Singapore also recognized the Philippines as the Emerging Muslim-Friendly Destination.
The current year sees the country in the race for six awards in the Asia category of the 30th WTA.
Tourism in the Philippines saw a significant revival in 2022, with foreign arrivals reaching 2.65 million, which far exceeded the year-end projections by nearly one million. Notably, over 1.8 million of these tourists arrived in the second half of 2022 alone.
Domestic tourism played a crucial part in the post-pandemic recovery of the tourism sector, with the DOT reporting more than 102 million domestic trips in 2022, marking a 176.18 percent increase from 2021’s 37.28 million.
In terms of expenditure, internal tourism saw an astounding 131.2 percent increase, contributing PHP1.87 trillion to the economy, up from PHP810.20 billion in 2021. The Tourism Direct Gross Value Added, a measure of the sector’s contribution to the country’s Gross Domestic Product, was estimated at 6.2 percent in 2022, valued at PHP1.38 trillion. This marked a 36.9 percent growth from PHP1.00 trillion in 2021.
As of July 21, the DOT has already recorded 3,017,224 foreign visitor arrivals, leaving them less than 1.8 million short of their ambitious 4.8 million target for 2023. With this continued momentum, the DOT remains confident about the future of the tourism industry in the Philippines under the Marcos administration.
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