1.5 million arrivals expected in December — BI

The Bureau of Immigration on Monday said 1.5 million individuals are expected to arrive in the Philippines in December as trends show a major increase in travelers in 2023.

In a statement, Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco said that the BI recorded around 1 million arrivals per month by the second quarter of the year, an increase from the 100,000 arrivals per month during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

For November, Tansingco said the BI recorded P1,160,699 arrivals, almost half of which were foreign nationals, while it recorded almost 1.1 million departures.

The BI said this is close to the 1.3 million departures recorded in November 2019.

Tansingco previously announced that it deployed 50 recently trained Immigration officers to enhance border control operations amid the holiday season. — Joahna Lei Casilao/RSJ, GMA Integrated News