The Philippines targets to attract over one million tourists from the United States this year, or about 15 percent more than in 2023, noting that US tourists have been the biggest spenders among all inbound visitors to the country.

Based on data from the Department of Tourism (DOT), a total of 5,450,557 international visitors entered the country from January 1 to December 31, 2023, of which 5,003,475 are foreigners while the remaining 447,082 are overseas Filipinos.

South Korea continued to be the Philippines’ top source of international visitors with 1,439,336; followed by the United States with 903,299; then Japan with 305,580; Australia with 266,551; China with 263,836; and then followed by Canada, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, Singapore, and Malaysia.

The international visitors from the US generated PHP35 billion in revenues in 2023 — the highest among the country’s top tourist markets, according to Philippine Tourism Director-Attache in New York Francisco Hilario Lardizabal.

He emphasized, “This is 215 percent higher than the tourism receipts from South Korea, so this is how important the American market is. While the arrivals are fewer, the contribution is bigger.”

Records from the DOT showed that visitor receipts in 2023 reached PHP482.54 billion, with the US as the top spending market, followed by Australia with PHP17.74 billion, South Korea with PHP16.41 billion, Canada with PHP15.85 billion, China with PHP12.24 billion, and Japan with PHP10.02 billion.

Lardizabal revealed that based on their monitoring, the American tourists tend to spend more and stay longer in a destination in the Philippines.

He added that majority or 55 percent of inbound travelers from the US are former Filipinos, whose main travel motivation is to visit friends and relatives in the Philippines.

“Filipinos from the US go around the Philippines and stay longer in the Philippines, and they also spend a lot. Apart from the money they spend on travel, they sometimes also give out money to their relatives,” he noted.

He shared that former Filipinos who visit the Philippines as tourists are being motivated by the desire to meet up and personally interact again with their friends and relatives in the Philippines, as well as see what changes happened in the country while they were already living in the US.

“They go around and visit friends and relatives in many places,” he said.

Meanwhile, mainstream American visitors looked for a more immersive dining experience. “They want to know the story about Filipino foods, how these are prepared, and they would even cook these foods themselves,” he remarked.

Lardizabal expressed confidence that the Philippines will achieve 15 percent more of the 2023 US tourist arrival figure, noting that the DOT is doing a multi-pronged approach to entice the market by forging partnerships, conducting more trainings for travel agents, joining B2B (business-to-business) travel trade events, and organizing curated familiarization tours.

He likewise shared that prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, most US travelers to the Philippines were baby boomers or those in the age bracket of 60 to 78 and Generation X or those aged 44 to 59.

But now, he said, majority of US travelers that are showing interest in the Philippines are millennials, or those born between 1981 and 1996.

“That should be our focus, how do we address the needs and preferences of the millennials,” he highlighted.

The tourism official likewise said that the emerging travel trends in this millennials market are geared toward immersion or experiential travel, wellness tourism, workcation, premium travel, solo travel, and adventure and sports, among others.

He mentioned as an example the market observation in the US itself, where there was a recorded uptick in the sales of sports and equipment for activities such as hiking, horseback riding, cycling and scuba diving.

Lardizabal added that among the top destinations for American visitors to the Philippines are Boracay, Palawan, and Siargao.

📷 Department of Tourism FB