The Department of Tourism (DOT) welcomed another record for the Philippine tourism industry in 2023, as the country recorded a net trade surplus in travel services for the first time in 15 years.
This, as the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) released preliminary full-year data showing that in 2023, the Philippines successfully breached the $100 billion export of goods and services mark.
The country recorded $2.45 billion in net trade surplus in travel services, while travel services export receipts reached $9.1 billion, which is more than double the level in 2022 and constitutes 93.2 percent of 2019 travel export receipts level.
Trade surplus means that the spending by international travelers to the Philippines is greater than what Filipinos spend overseas.
The BSP report also revealed that travel services in 2023 contributed an impressive 18.9 percent share to the country’s total service exports of $48.28 billion.
The BSP attributed the growth to the “strong performance of the information technology and business process management (IT-BPM) sectors and a turn-around in tourism revenues.”
Tourism Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco hails this development as a testament to the collective efforts and dedication of stakeholders in realizing President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr.’s vision of positioning the Philippines as a tourism powerhouse in Asia.
“We welcome the latest numbers from the BSP report which sets an optimistic tone.”
“We welcome the latest numbers from the BSP report which sets an optimistic tone not just for the DOT, but to all our tourism stakeholders, and tourism leaders and shakers, even those who came before me, who have all worked tirelessly and shown nothing but resilience in the past difficult years. As we continue to work towards achieving our targets for 2024 and the years to come, we endeavor to cement tourism’s position as a major economic pillar for the country,” Frasco said.
“We count on the continued support of our partners in the public and the private sectors.”
“We count on the continued support of our partners in the public and the private sectors in delivering our strategies under the approved National Tourism Development Plan (NTDP) 2023 to 2028, and as far as fulfilling the DOT’s mandate on tourism promotions go, to be able to diversify the country’s tourism product portfolio to cater to more market segments and to highlight offerings, going beyond the already established tourism offerings and places, increasing accessibility to these destinations, and celebrating with our tourists the many reasons to Love the Philippines,” the tourism chief added.
The Philippines welcomed 5.45 million international visitors in 2023, successfully breaching its year-end target of 4.8 million.
Taking the helm of the DOT in 2022, under the leadership of Frasco, the DOT had undertaken a multidimensional approach towards sustainable tourism development, putting connectivity, convenience, and equality at the core of its strategies.
