The Philippines received circa 5.44 million foreign tourists in full-year 2024, up 8.7 percent from a year earlier, according to data published on Friday by the nation’s Department of Tourism. Foreign tourists accounted for 91.4 percent of aggregate arrivals, which include people classified as overseas Filipinos.

In aggregate terms, the country recorded just below 5.95 million arrivals in the 12 months to December 31, including 510,383 entries by overseas Filipinos. The latter segment – referring to Philippine passport holders who are permanently residing abroad – was up 14.2 percent from a year earlier.

The Philippines is one of the few jurisdictions in Asia to have an extensive casino industry with unrestricted access for locals, as well as foreigners.

The government of the Philippines was targeting to draw 7.7 million foreign visitors in full-2024, after exceeding its 2023 arrivals forecast.

In terms of foreign tourists, South Korea was the Philippines’ top source market, with nearly 1.57 million arrivals in 2024, accounting for 26.4 percent of all arrivals. The tally from that market was up by 8.2 percent from the prior year.

The second-biggest source market for foreign tourists to the Philippines last year was the United States, with 947,891 arrivals, about 15.9 percent of all arrivals. The figure was up 4.9 percent from 2023, showed the data.

Japan rounded out the top three source markets, providing 388,316 arrivals, about 6.5 percent of all visitors. The figure was up 27.1 percent from a year ago.

China provided about 312,222 visitors in the January to December period, representing nearly 5.3 percent of all arrivals. The figure rose by 18.3 percent from 2023.

Despite falling short of the 7.7-million target, Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco said in mid-December that 2024 had been an “exceptional” year for the Philippine tourism industry in terms of tourism receipts.

Cited by local media outlets, she said the country had earned an estimated PHP712 billion (US$12.26 billion) in tourism spending in the year up to December 15, representing a 119-percent increase from the PHP600.01 billion recorded in full-year 2019, and up from PHP697.46 billion in 2023.