The Philippines surpassed the Department of Tourism’s (DOT’s) baseline target of two million international arrivals in 2022, Tourism Secretary Christina G. Frasco announced on Sunday, May 14.

Frasco said the country registered 2,002,304 international visitor arrivals from January 1 to May 12, 2023, exceeding the goal of 1.7 million foreign tourists for the entire year set for 2022.

“𝘕𝘰𝘵𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘥, 𝘢 𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘤 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘷𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘯𝘦𝘸𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘍𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘰 𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘵 𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘱𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴,” Frasco said during a forum in Makati City.

The DOT chief expressed optimism that the country is on its way to becoming the “tourism powerhouse in Asia” due to the priority given by the current administration to tourism.

Frasco said, “𝘞𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘶𝘴𝘱 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘮 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘱𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘪𝘵, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘪𝘵, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘪𝘵, 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘗𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘱𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴, 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘈𝘴𝘪𝘢'𝘴 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘮 𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱, 𝘸𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵.”

With 487, 502 visitors (24.35 percent), South Korea delivered nearly a quarter of the total number of visitors for the Philippines, followed by the United States of America in second place with 352, 894 (17.62 percent), Australia with 102, 494 (5.12 percent), Canada with 98, 593 (4.92 percent), and Japan with 97, 329 (4.86 percent) to round out the top five source markets.

China (75,043), Taiwan (62,654), the United Kingdom (62,291), Singapore (53,359), and Malaysia (36,789) complete the top ten, the tourism department added.

According to the DOT, inbound tourist receipts were P168.52 billion from January to April 2023. It noted that this is 782.59 percent more than the P19,093,427,035.59 in tourism earnings generated during the same period last year.