2 million foreigners exited the Philippines Jan-Sept 2020 –BI

Almost 2 million foreigners left the Philippines from January to September amid the COVID-19 pandemic, exceeding the number of arrivals for the first time, the Bureau of Immigration said Monday.

Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente said only 1.5 million foreigners arrived in the country during the same period, most of them coming in before COVID-19 travel restrictions were imposed.

More than 400,000 Koreans left the country, topping the list of departures by nationality. Around 300,000 Americans and Chinese nationals and 166,000 Japanese citizens also left, according to the BI.

Morente stressed Chinese departures, in particular, were "significant" as more than 292,000 left the country due to the pandemic. In contrast, more than 188,000 arrived from January to September.

According to BI data, 475,129 Chinese were still in the country. But Morente clarified the figures did not reflect those who arrived before 2013.

The BI said 6.4 million Chinese nationals came into the country from 2013 to 2019 while more than 6.1 million left during the same period.

Morente said the exodus of foreigners, expected to continue until the end of the year, had affected Philippine tourism.

“The government had made significant strides in improving tourism. However, this pandemic proved to counter all previous efforts,” he said.

“You can see the effect," he explained. “Areas that were once booming with foreign tourists, workers, or students are now empty. We’re hoping that little by little, the confidence of foreign nationals to visit our country, invest here, work here, or study here be renewed as we work to fight this pandemic."

Foreign tourists are currently not allowed to enter the Philippines. — DVM, GMA News