The Philippines is likely to experience continued softness in inbound tourism from its top source market, South Korea, throughout 2025 due to the weakening Korean won, according to a leading property consultant.
Alfred Lay, Director for Hotels, Tourism and Leisure for Leechiu Property Consultants (LPC), also claimed during a media briefing this week that Philippine visitor arrivals would remain at around 6 million this year, well below analyst forecasts of up to 8 million.
As reported by IAG, the number of visitor arrivals entering the Philippines fell by 0.51% during the first three months of 2025, mainly on a decline in visitation from South Korea and China.
Arrivals from South Korea fell by 13.9% year-on-year to 395,059.
Noting that the Korean won this week fell to its lowest level in 16 years on the back of the US tariff impact, Lay said Department of Tourism figures indicated that tourism is “plateauing” and there isn’t a whole lot the Philippines can do about it.
“A lot of this is not necessarily in our control —the areas that are out of our control are things like our top source market, South Korea,” he said, as reported by Philippine News Agency.
“Just like Japan did for the last few years, where they’ve had 30 to 35-year lows of the yen against the dollar, the Korean won is facing a similar situation at the moment. Ever since they had that Martial Law declaration and the political turmoil that has brought an uncertainty, the South Korean market has really dropped off.
“So, seeing our largest source market drop off by 14% is something that we need to be very, very mindful and cautious about and seek solutions to deal with that.”
With Chinese visitation having also declined over the past year, Lay added, “We don’t see any major catalysts looking down the next three quarters, so unless there are some major changes, we don’t expect the Philippines to outperform that 6 million number.”
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