A total of 3.92 million Filipinos traveled to other countries in the first seven months of 2024, up nearly four percent compared to 3.77 million in the same period last year.
According to the Department of Tourism, which based the data on the e-travel online app of the Bureau of Immigration, the highest number of Filipino outbound travelers was recorded in June, at 656,544. Outbound travelers refer to tourists and overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).
READ: The Top Countries Filipinos Traveled to in 2024
Hong Kong is still the top destination for most Filipinos, with 502,261 recorded travelers from January to July. That represents 12.8 percent of the total number of outbound travelers. At second place is Singapore, with 460,535 travelers, or 11.75 percent flying to the Lion City. Japan ranked third with 444,834 Filipino travelers (11.35 percent). Saudi Arabia came next at 268,935 or 6.86 percent; while the United Arab Emirates rounded out the top five with 264,721 (6.75 percent).
Other favorite travel destinations of Filipinos from January to July 2024 included Taiwan at 240,433 (or 6.13 percent of total); Thailand 217,108 (5.54 percent); the United States 191,680 (4.89 percent); South Korea 116,271 (2.97 percent); and Qatar 107,360 (2.74 percent). Australia and Vietnam were also huge recipients of Filipino travelers at 104,917 (2.68 percent), and 101,966 (2.68 percent), respectively. The rest of the outbound markets received less than 100,000 Filipino travelers.
According to the DOT, data on outbound passengers only became fully integrated with the e-travel online system in May 2023.
Despite the upward trajectory of outbound Filipino travelers, it’s still not at the level of 2019, the last full year before the pandemic.
“Nothing is deterring Filipinos from traveling abroad except the limited flights,” even if the weak peso has made travel packages abroad more expensive, said Aileen Clemente, president of Rajah Travel Corp. “The cost is higher, so even if airfare may have slightly dropped, the foreign exchange has increased.”
The average foreign exchange rate from January to July 2024 was P57.11 per $1 versus P52.06 in the same period in 2019.
Aileen surmised that Hong Kong wasn’t yet fully open to tourists last year, which could explain why travel there is only picking up this year. She added that her agency logged more travelers to Japan than any other country. This was followed by Hong Kong, South Korea, Thailand, then Singapore.
Data from the BSP showed outbound tourism expenditure, which falls under travel imports in the Balance of Payments, reached $3.08 billion (around P175.56 billion) from January to March this year, up 113.6 percent from the $1.4 billion (P79.8 billion) spent in the same period in 2023. Total outbound expenditure last year reached P208.25 billion, up 10 percent from 2022.
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