Filipino Tourists Spend Billions of Dollars Abroad. And where do they go?

Oftentimes, I am amazed by the sheer number of Filipinos who travel as tourists to other countries and how much they spend. According to the Philippine Statistics Authority, in 2019 alone, Pinoy tourists spent a total of $8.26 Billion which is a bewildering amount!

And why did i use the words, amazed and bewildering? Because everybody knows that we are not a developed country and many regard us as a third world nation. Our employment rate is not something we can be proud of, and our economy is….. yes… pang-third world (but hey, we are a happy, hospitable and resilient people!). We can argue all day until towards the next election whether the Philippines is a developing or an “almost there” developed country. Or insist that we are not really that poor with many folks spending away hard-earned disposable income or that we have many old and nouveau rich families with their cache of money envelopes. But we cannot deny the fact that the Pinoy tourists are a dominant force in the travel movement. Let’s leave it at that and stay bewildered. The Pinoy tourist character deserves another article.

Now, let’s see what countries benefit from the billions of dollars generously spread by Filipinos around the world. Just remember that this is based on 2019 figures before the Covid-19 pandemic made a mess of everything. We have to wait a few more years for things to settle down and restart the normal trajectories.

Number 1 on the list was South Korea with 1,983,394 Filipino tourists visiting the oppaland. The Philippine Department of Tourism and the private sector have been working so hard to breach the 2 million mark for Koreans to visit the Philippines. Turned out that the Pinoys have easily reciprocated that same volume of exchange tourists. We won’t be surprised if we found out that many of the Pinoys were influenced to travel to South Korea because of the Kpop and Kdrama. Because you see, the Korean government fully supported the entertainment industry knowing that it is a very good tool for national development. Oh,I got lost in my thoughts!… Well, I guess you have an idea on the subliminal message.

With Japan coming in at number two with 682,788 Pinoy tourists and the United States only third with 611,791 inbound Filipinos, it only goes to show that the East Asian countries are the flavor of the months (uhmm… years) in terms of tourism attractiveness. It also seems that heritage affinity of Filipino genes to in the U.S. plays second fiddle to many things East Asian, considering that there are more than four million Filipino Americans that should bring in vacationing relatives from the Philippines compared to just thousands in Japan. Or it might just be the cost of travel plus the quality of promised experience?

Here is the Department of Tourism’s 2019 complete list of the top 10 destination countries of Pinoy tourists who spent more than $8 Billion. Be amazed and bewildered!

1. South Korea - 1,983,394

2. Japan - 682,788

3. United States - 611,791

4. China - 419,061

5. Taiwan - 420,121

6. Hong Kong - 404,133

7. Australia - 239,743

8. Singapore - 210,038

9. Canada - 197,857

10. United Kingdom - 93,463

With more countries easing up their inbound travel restrictions, Filipinos have started going around the country and outside to where their travel piggy banks have been allocated for. Some call it revenge travel. For me, it’s just getting back to normal travel pattern.

Now, try to imagine the numbers when the Philippines becomes a truly developed country.