The Philippines recorded 4.11 million international visitor arrivals in the first eight months of 2026, up 3.7 percent year-on-year, as the government works to expand visa-free access for mainland Chinese travelers to Clark and other tourism gateways.
The total compared with 3.97 million arrivals during the same period in 2025, according to Department of Tourism (DOT) data reported by the Philippine News Agency on Tuesday.
The United States remained the largest source market with 818,318 arrivals, followed by South Korea with 727,379 and Japan with 350,191. China ranked fourth with 310,088 arrivals, representing an increase of nearly 69.2 percent from a year earlier.
Despite the recovery, Chinese visitation remained well below the 1.74 million arrivals recorded in 2019, when China was the country’s second-largest tourism market.
Tourism Secretary Dita Angara-Mathay said the DOT is seeking to extend the visa-free arrangement beyond Manila and Cebu to Clark, Caticlan, Bohol and Palawan.
“If we’re going to get all the other agencies to sign up on this, then we can expect a lot more chartered flights from China and a lot more arrivals,” she said.
Clark serves a growing casino and integrated-resort market in Central Luzon, while Caticlan is the main gateway to Boracay.
Effective January 16th, Chinese nationals may enter visa-free for up to 14 days for tourism or business, but only through Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport and Mactan-Cebu International Airport.
