MILLENNIALS were the most traveled within the country last year, according to the latest data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority and Department of Tourism.
The 15 to 24 year-old demographic traveled across the country the most, followed by the 24 to 34 year-old group at 24%, the 35 to 44 group at 19%, the 45 to 54 group at 14%, the 55 to 64 group at 9% and 65 and over at 6%.
Three out of five Filipinos over the age of 15 made two trips on average.
The majority of these trips were for pleasure and only 3 in 10 travelers were visiting relatives or friends. The median age of travelers was 34 years old.
The survey covered the period April 1 to Sept. 30 last year and showed that over 3.4 million individuals travelled within that period.
The top 10 destinations were the National Capital Region, Negros Occidental, Pangasinan, Cavite, Quezon, Bohol, Cebu, Camarines Sur, Laguna and Leyte.
Most provinces in the top 10 had beach attractions such as Quezon, Bohol, and Pangasinan.
Among NCR residents, the mostly visited places were Laguna and Cavite receiving 3.3% of the total, Rizal at 3.2%, Bulacan at 3.1% and Batangas, 3.0%.
On average, domestic tourists stayed as long as five nights and arranged their trips individually. Only less than 1%t availed of an airline promo.
“(This) is a welcome development,” said Maria Cielo Villaluna, external communications head and Philippine Airlines spokesperson. “This aligns with our end-goal of the airline industry which is to increase share in various markets thus widening customer base, to create that multiplier effect.”
Villaluna attributes the number of younger travellers to the variety of travel options available to them.
“With the number of existing air carriers in the country, there are more choices,” she said in an e-mail to BusinessWorld.
Seventy-nine percent of independent travellers spent their money on transportation, typically spending P476 on land transportation and P5,179 on airfare. About 55% spent on shopping, 42% on food and beverage, and one-fifth on local transport.
Domestic tourism peaked during the Christmas holidays with 49% of respondents saying they scheduled a trip during that period in the last 12 months, followed by All Saints’ Day at 40.7% and Holy Week at 27.6%.
However, when it comes to outbound travel, the older demographic groups traveled the most. About 245,000 Filipinos 15 years and above went out of the country for holidays, with their median age at 45.
One in five of these tourists belonged to either the 35 to 44 or the 55 to 64 age groups. These visitors spent about P50,800 on average and stayed for 17 nights. The top foreign destinations were China, including Hong Kong, Malaysia, Japan, the US and Singapore.
“This data is important for the Department of Tourism,” said Milagros Say, director of the Office of Tourism Development Planning Research and Information Management, “as this will be a good input in terms of tourism development and marketing efforts of the department.”
According to Ms. Say, the trend is most likely to continue this year. — Mario M. Banzon
