Based on the data released by the Department of Tourism (DOT) on December 27, the 6,398 is only a 0.44 percent of the 1,457,334 total arrivals by air in the country for 2020.
“Air arrivals comprised 98.39 percent of the toal inbound visitors, equivalent to 1,457,334 visitors,” DOT said in a statement. “Manila, as the country’s main gateway, welcomed 948,988 or 65.12 percent of the total air arrivals.”
Meanwhile, DOT saw an increase in Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) arrivals at 84,080, a 16.07 percent increase from the 72,436 arrivals in 2019.
At the same time, the number of international arrivals plunged. From 8,260,913 in 2019, it dropped to 1,482,535 in 2020, which is a 82.05-percent decline.
“The decline started in February with 462,681 arrivals,” DOT said. “This was due to the air travel restrictions from select countries such as China, Korea and Taiwan.”
At the time, only OFWs, foreign spouses or children, holders of permanent resident visas, and holders of diplomat visas were allowed to enter due to the Covid-19 virus breakout.
April 2020 recorded the lowest number of arrivals with 948 but increased rapidly in the middle of the third quarter with 18,330 arrivals recorded in August.
This was due to the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) Resolution No. 56 that permitted foreigners with existing long-term visas to enter the country.
The arrivals further increased towards the end of the year when December recorded 19,793 arrivals when IATF-EID Resolution No. 85 was issued which allowed the entry of Filipinos starting December 7.
DOT also reported that in 2020, most arrivals were from South Korea with 338,877 or 22.86 percent of the total foreign arrivals in the country. South Korea was followed by the USA with 211,816 or 14.29 percent, then China with 170,432 or 11.50 percent.
Japan, Australia, Canada, Taiwan, United Kingdom, India, Germany, France, and Malaysia composed the rest of the top 12 source markets.
