People travel as families: tourism in the Philippines is reviving again

With more Filipinos able to afford to travel within the country and even abroad, a travel industry executive said the Philippines' tourism industry is coming back to life amid the steady easing of pandemic-related restrictions. According to Eileen Clemente, president of Rajah Travel Corp. travelers are looking for travel deals that cater to families and even larger groups, including in the corporate sector, which are sponsored by their companies.

"They prefer excursions. They are not as concerned about their safety as they used to be. But they want more family tours, more intimate, more impressive... they still prefer exclusive tours," she said in an interview with The STAR, according to Philstar Global.

When asked if the tourism industry is reviving, Clemente replied: "Yes, the tourism industry is alive."

Research company BMI, a part of Fitch Solutions, predicts that this year the Philippines will "fully recover" the level of tourist arrivals it had before the pandemic spread around the world and stopped travel in 2020.

"In 2024, we forecast tourist arrivals to the Philippines to rise to 8.21 million," BMI said in a statement on January 31.

According to the Department of Tourism, the Philippines received more than 8.26 million foreign tourists in 2019.

The growth in tourist arrivals to the Philippines, estimated at 64%, will be "primarily driven by increased arrivals from key source markets such as South Korea, China, the United States, Japan and Australia," BMI said.