Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco said the figure surpassed the agency’s projection of only 1.7 million foreign tourists by December.
“Because of our President’s position of prioritizing travel and tourism as a priority agenda of his administration and the sense of optimism and hope that has reverberated across the Philippines, there is a great interest in the Philippines,” said Frasco in a Palace briefing.
“This is actually well reflected in our tourist arrivals which have now reached 1,827,603 as of today,” she added. “Notably, this exceeds the previous projections of the Department of Tourism prior to June 30, which pegged international arrivals only at 1.7 million by December of 2022.”
Other Southeast countries have also seen growth in their tourist arrivals recently. Thailand had 3.78 million tourist arrivals from January to mid-August. Meanwhile, 1.73 million tourists have visited Indonesia as of August.
Singapore, on the other hand, recorded 778,141 foreign visitors as of September. However, this is still below the 1.5 million arrivals in September 2019.
The government has reopened the country’s borders for tourism and business since the beginning of the year and gradually relaxed travel protocols like quarantine and testing.
Pre-departure COVID-19 test for incoming fully vaccinated travelers has been scrapped. Meanwhile, unvaccinated foreigners are only required to present a negative antigen test result taken 24 hours before departure or upon arrival in the Philippines.
The national government earlier eased the mask wearing policy, making it voluntary when outdoors. An executive order is set to be issued to make masking voluntary indoors too, Frasco said.
“We are optimistic that all of these restrictions being lifted by the Marcos admin that this can only redound to the benefit of the lives of millions of Filipinos that serve to benefit as well from the invigoration of the tourism industry,” Frasco added.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 25) — The Department of Tourism on Tuesday said there has been a “great interest” in the Philippines as a travel destination amid the pandemic, with year-to-date international tourist arrivals of over 1.8 million exceeding earlier expectation.
