MANILA – Japanese citizens are among the top arrivals for the month of December this year, data from the Philippine Bureau of Immigration (BI) showed.
According to the BI, 1,645 Japanese arrived during the holiday season, the fourth on the list.
Filipino citizens topped the number of arrivals with 141,216, followed by Americans with 12,455 and Canadians with 2,805.
BI Port Operations Division Chief Atty. Carlos Capulong shared that the arrivals this year for Dec. 24 and 25 doubled compared to last year’s figures.
“Last year, there were only 5,478 arrivals for the two days, while this year, it increased 100% to 11,074 for the Christmas eve and Christmas day,” said Capulong. “While the numbers are still relatively low, we are confident that this increase will continue until next year, given the government’s aggressive vaccination campaign,” he stated.
Separate data revealed that Japanese citizens were fifth on the list of top departures for the same month with 2,190 exits. - Florenda Corpuz
(Article cover photo taken at NAIA Terminal 1 on Sept. 17, 2021)
