(Eagle News) — The number of passengers who arrived this year in the country decreased by 72 percent, the Bureau of Immigration said.
According to Immigration chief Jaime Morente, only 893,886 travelers arrived in the country from January to September, down from the 3.2 million arrivals logged in the same period in 2020.
Morente said this was “a far cry” from the country’s pre-pandemic figures of 12.6 million arrivals by the 3rd quarter.
There were 2.8 million arrivals recorded at the beginning of 2020 before the country closed its borders due to the pandemic, according to Morente.
According to the Immigration chief, arrivals averaged from 90,000 to 100,000 per month since January due to the daily cap on passenger arrivals as well as travel restrictions.
The number of passengers who left the country during this period also dropped by 68 percent, from 3.6 million travelers in 2020 to 1.1 million travelers.
“The bulk of these travelers were overseas Filipino workers as well as foreigners who were returning to their home countries,” Morente said.
