DOT: Tourism Industry Achieves Highest-Ever Revenue in 2024

The Philippine tourism industry achieved its highest-ever revenue in 2024, with the Department of Tourism (DOT) reporting approximately P760.5 billion in earnings, marking a 9.04 percent increase from 2023.

- MARK ERNEST VILLEZA

Tourism Secretary Christina Garcia-Frasco announced the milestone on Jan. 5, attributing the success to strategic policies, expanded air connectivity and sustained efforts to promote the country's unique destinations.

The figure was 9.04 percent higher than the record of inbound tourism earnings worth P697.46 billion in 2023, as well as up by 26.75 percent from P600.01 billion worth of income in 2019 or a year before the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, the DOT was short of the 7.7 million foreign travelers that it targeted to achieve in 2024, based on projections stipulated in the National Tourism Development Plan 2023-2028.

South Korea remained the Philippines' top source of foreign tourists, with 1.57 million arrivals in 2024, accounting for 26.46 percent of total market share.