The direct gross value added of the tourism industry last year accounted for 6.2 percent of gross domestic product or P1.376 trillion based on current prices, the Philippine Statistics Authority said Thursday.
The direct gross value added of the tourism industry last year was 37 percent higher than the P1.004 trillion total in 2021 but still off the pre-pandemic high of P2.509 trillion—or 12.9 percent of GDP–posted in 2019, when the Philippines reported 8.2 million international tourist arrivals.
The gains last year was due to the so-called “revenge travel” following the easing of global mobility restrictions imposed to control the spread of the COVID-19 virus.
Expenditures inbound tourists—spending of foreign visitors and Filipinos permanently living abroad–surged to P368.67 billion last year from P27.63 billion in the previous year while domestic tourism expenditure showed a 92 percent growth P1.505 trillion. Meanwhile, outbound tourism expenditure grew by nearly 89 percent to P189.29 billion.
Inbound tourism expenditure accounted for 5.9 percent of the Philippines’ total exports in 2022 while domestic tourism expenditure, which covers spending of resident visitors as domestic trip or part of international trip, contributed 9.0 percent to household final consumption expenditure.
The tourism industry was estimated to have employed 5.35 million last year, up 9.3 percent from 2021 and equal to 11.4 percent of total employment.
The Department of Tourism had reported 2.65 foreign tourist arrivals in 2022, exceeding the target of 1.7 million last year, and set a 4.8 million target for international tourist arrivals for this year.
