Residents from South Korea topped the list of visitor arrivals to the Philippines every year

Saturday, March 12, 2022

Sang-kyu Gil, South Korean photographer, has visited the Philippines for more than 10 times.

The 42-year-old Korean, attracted by the beautiful scenery and reasonable prices, normally spends seven to 10 days in the country. That costs him around $400. It’s less than half of the amount that he spends on a similar trip within his home country.

His last visit to Philippines was in 2019. “Of course, I have plans to visit the Philippines again,” he told CNBC Travel in Korean.

When the pandemic ends, if past trends are any indicator, then Philippines is probably to get many visitors from South Korea.

From 2010 to 2020 at a stretch, residents from South Korea topped the list of visitor arrivals to the Philippines, as per the information from the Philippines Department of Tourism.

China, the United States and Japan rounded out the top four over the same time period, even though each one of them has much larger populations than South Korea’s 51 million residents.

For South Koreans, the Philippines isn’t the top destination, even though it is in the top 10, according to a Philippines tourism official. In absolute numbers, South Koreans visit countries such as Japan and Vietnam in huge numbers.

Still, South Korean tourists visit the Philippines more than any other travelers — a situation which did not happen by accident.

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