BAGUIO CITY – More than thirty-four percent of first-time foreign tourists return to the country as come-backing visitors based on data made available by the Department of Tourism (DOT).
Marybeth U. So, an accredited national trainer of the DOT’s Filipino Brand of Service Excellence (FBSE) program, said that 65.58 percent of the foreign visitors that arrived in the country over the past three years are first time tourists while 34.52 percent are considered come-backing visitors or repeat visitors.
Further, data showed that foreign visitors had an average stay of 12.91 days in the country while they have an average of 5.72 days of package tour when visiting their desired tourist destinations in the country.
58.95 percent of the foreign tourists have travelled alone, 6.41 percent travel with their spouse, 2.37 percent travel with their relatives, 1.59 percent travel with their children, among others.
The places that have been frequented by the foreign visitors outside Metro Manila are Aklan, including Boracay island – 20.66 percent, Cebu – 7.34 percent, Palawan, including Puerto Princesa City – 6 percent, Bohol – 2.97 percent, Pampanga, including Angeles City – 2.31 percent, Cavite, including Tagaytay City – 2.12 percent, Batangas – 2.01 percent, Davao del Sur, including Davao City – 1.91 percent, Surigao del Norte – 1.57 percent and Benguet, including Baguio City – 1.41 percent.
Topping the list of items purchased by the visitors are personal items – 70 percent, food delicacies – 68.35 percent, apparels, textiles or garments – 32.54 percent, fashion accessories – 29.92 percent, and arts and crafts – 9.57 percent.
More importantly, 34.64 percent of the foreign visitors liked visiting the Philippines because of the warm hospitality and kindness of people, 25.73 percent like the beautiful sceneries and beaches, 9.46 percent want to see their love ones, relatives or friends, 7.27 percent have other reasons for visiting the country.
South Koreans remain to be the top source of foreign visitors over the past three years followed by the United States of America (USA), Japan, Australia, China, overseas Filipinos, among others.
The tourism department is aggressively conducting various trainings around the country with the involvement of various sectors to inculcate into the minds of Filipinos the importance of the Filipino Brand of Service Excellence for them to help in popularizing this to entice more foreigners to visit the different tourist destinations around the archipelago and encourage their fellow Filipinos to be familiar with the places around the nation.
Tourism contributed 5.1 percent to the country’s gross domestic product in 2020, 5.2 percent in 2021 and 6.2 percent in 2022.
In 2021, tourism contributed more than PhP1 trillion in total gross receipts and jumping to around PhP1.38 trillion in 2022.
Moreover, tourism contributed 11.9 percent in the country’s employment in 2020 before dropping to 11.1 percent in 2021 and leaping to 11.4 percent in 2022. By Dexter A. See
