Tourism in the Philippines: 4.92m visitors in first 11 months of the year

The figure was up 9.6 per cent in year-on-year terms.

The Philippines.- The Department of Tourism (DOT) has reported that the Philippines received 4.92 million tourist arrivals in the first eleven months of the year. That’s an increase of 9.6 per cent when compared to last year. Some 91.9 per cent of arrivals were foreign tourists, including Filipinos residing overseas.

South Korea remained the biggest source market, accounting for 26.8 per cent of arrivals (1.44m). The figure was up 10.5 per cent when compared to last year. The United States was the second-biggest source market with 764,124 arrivals (15.6 per cent). The figure was up 2.9 per cent.

The United States was the second-biggest source market with 839,635 arrivals, 15.7 per cent of the total. The figure was up 3.8 per cent from the prior-year period. There were 352,630 arrivals from Japan, up 27.9 per cent in year-on-year terms, while China remained in fourth with 297,604 (up 21.5 per cent).

For the full year, the Philippines aims to attract 7.7 million arrivals. Last year, it received 5.45 million. In October, Christina Frasco, secretary of the Department of Tourism (DOT) of the Philippines, and Yu In-chon, minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism of the Republic of Korea, signed a n implementation plan for the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Tourism Cooperation for 2024-2029.

The MoU extends and broadens the bilateral tourism cooperation established in a previous MoU signed in 2006. Frasco said the plan would strengthen the relationship between the Philippines and South Korea in terms of tourism and people-to-people exchanges.

S&P upgrades Philippines outlook to positive

S&P Global Ratings has upgraded its outlook on the Philippines from stable to positive. It also affirmed BBB+/A-2 sovereign credit ratings citing effective policymaking that has delivered structural improvements to credit metrics.

Analysts said fiscal reforms had raised government revenue as a share of gross domestic product (GDP) and helped to fund public investment. “Improved infrastructure and policy environment have helped to keep economic growth strong in much of the past decade,” they said.

S&P said the Philippines’ economic growth remained strong in 2024 following expansion last year. The economy grew by 6.1 per cent year-on-year during the first half driven by recovery in government expenditure. The pace of the growth slowed in the third quarter to 5.2 per cent due to a 2.8 per cent contraction in the agriculture sector owing to severe typhoons.

S&P forecast that the Philippine economy will grow at a rate of 6.2 per cent a year over the next three years, supported by private consumption and improving external demand. it sees GDP per capita rising to US$4,119 in 2024 and US$4,478 in 2025.

See also: Casinos in the Philippines: GGR up 37.5% for Q3

The figure was up 9.6 per cent in year-on-year terms. The Philippines.- The Department of Tourism (DOT) has reported that the Philippines received 4.92 million tourist arrivals in the first eleven months of the…