The Department of Tourism expects at least 7.7 million foreign tourists to visit the Philippines in 2024, higher than the 2023 target of 4.8 million.
Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco said the agency was committed to aggressively pursuing the targets, “if not in excess of that number, in our earnest desire to return to pre-pandemic levels sooner than what is predicted.”
“Arming the Department of Tourism with the additional budget would help us greatly in the flagship programs that have been identified by the Marcos administration that seeks not only to benefit our key destinations, but our emerging destinations as well,” she said during the congressional budget hearing Tuesday.
Speaking before the House Committee of Appropriations, Frasco reported on the promising recovery rate of the Philippine tourism industry under the Marcos administration.
She said international visitor arrivals from January to July reached 3.42 million, representing a 66.33-percent recovery rate compared to the same period in 2019, and surpassed the 2022 average growth rate of 54 percent in Asia Pacific based on the World Tourism Barometer of the UN World Tourism Organization.
The number comprised 71 percent of the DOT’s baseline target for 2023 at 4.8 million foreign visitor arrivals. The Philippines also raised P368 billion in revenues from international visitors in the first semester of 2023.
The DOT expects to receive a P2.99-billion budget for fiscal year 2024, or 20 percent lower than the current budget of P3.7 billion.
Frasco said the DOT is grateful for the support of the House committee. She said the new budget would support the department’s objectives and strategies towards the transformation of the Philippines into a tourism powerhouse in Asia and for the country to finally be shoulder to shoulder with its ASEAN neighbors.
“Adequate funding support is needed for attainment of such goals,” she said.
Frasco assured that stringent measures were put in place toward the full utilization of its 2023 budget by the end of the year, as part of the department’s commitment to transparency in its undertakings.
The DOT received from the Commission on Audit an unmodified opinion on the fairness of the presentation of its financial statement in 2022.