The tourism industry contributed *** percent to the gross domestic product (GDP) in the Philippines in 2024. This indicated an increase from just over **** percent during the COVID-19 pandemic years. However, it was still lower than the pre-pandemic GDP share.

The diverse scenic beauty and historically significant sites in the Philippines made it popular with international tourists and have helped spur the growth of the tourism industry to a great extent. Although the average daily expenditure of international tourists has fluctuated since 2019, it remained within the average spending range pre-pandemic. As of July 2024, this amounted to about ***** Philippine pesos, lower than the peak average spending in 2022. International tourist arrivals Among international tourists arriving in the Philippines in as of July 204, travelers from South Korea were the biggest market. Therefore, they also registered the highest value of travel related expenditures in that period. Trailing behind by a considerable margin were travelers from the United States. Contribution of tourism to the economy The Philippines has a very lucrative tourism industry, with an increasing GDP contribution before the pandemic. While the industry's GDP share has not yet fully recovered in 2023, it was already significantly higher than the contribution in 2020 and 2021. Across tourism-related industries, transport services accounted for the highest gross value added in 2023.

The Philippines has a steadily growing economy, with a gross domestic product (GDP) that reached over 461.62 billion U.S. dollars in 2024. Gross domestic product (GDP) denotes the aggregate value of all services and goods produced within a country in any given year. GDP is an important indicator of a country's economic power. The GDP of the Philippines is expected to increase substantially to over 757.67 billion U.S. dollars by 2030. The Philippines’ economy GDP of the Philippines has consistently grown at around six percent and is expected to remain constant through 2024. At the same time, the unemployment rate has fallen to about 2.5 percent in 2018, with an increasing amount of employment being within the services sector . Sectors of the economy The services sector is a significant economic sector in the Philippines economy, with a share of almost 60 percent in gross domestic product generation. Usually, a shift of GDP generation from agriculture to services is a sure sign of a growing economy - the same is true for the Philippines: Tourism and IT are industries within the services sector which has substantially contributed to the Philippines’ economic growth. The agriculture sector, although contributing to the Philippines’ export quantity, such as coconut oil and fruits, has declined over recent years, with more and more inhabitants moving to the cities to find work.

In 2019, the unemployment rate in the Philippines was at approximately 2.24 percent and on a steady downward trend from 3.6 percent in 2014.

Souvenirs from overseas

The Philippines’ economy relies heavily on remittances from overseas, i.e. money sent home by Filipino emigrants and workers in other countries. In 2016 alone, approximately 30 billion U.S. dollars were received as remittances in the Philippines, and the amount seems to increase significantly every year. This makes the Philippines one of the leading countries worldwide when it comes to receiving remittances, only surpassed by India and China.

Visitors from overseas

The Philippines’ economy is stable, not only because of remittances, but also because of a flourishing services sector, which is now the main generator of GDP in the country; tourism and IT in particular contribute to economic growth. More than half of the Philippines workforce is employed in services.

The revenue in the 'Hotels' segment of the travel & tourism market in the Philippines was forecast to continuously increase between 2024 and 2029 by in total ***** million U.S. dollars (+***** percent). After the ninth consecutive increasing year, the revenue is estimated to reach *** billion U.S. dollars and therefore a new peak in 2029. Notably, the revenue of the 'Hotels' segment of the travel & tourism market was continuously increasing over the past years.Find more information concerning Spain and the United States. The Statista Market Insights cover a broad range of additional markets.

In 2024, the Philippines’ inflation rate amounted to 3.21 percent. The Philippines are considered “newly industrialized”, but the economy relies on remittances from nationals overseas, and the services sector generates most of its GDP . Emerging and soon to develop?After switching from agriculture to services and manufacturing, the Philippines are now an emerging economy, i.e. the country has some characteristics of a developed nation but is not quite there yet. In order to transition into a developed nation, the Philippines must meet certain requirements, like being able to sustain their economic development, being very open to foreign investors, or maintaining a very high stability of the institutional framework (like law enforcement and the government). Only if these changes are irreversible can they be classified as a developed nation. The Philippines’ switch to servicesEver since the switch to services and manufacturing, employment in these areas has increased and the country is now among those with the highest employment in the tourism industry worldwide. This transition was not entirely voluntary but also due to decreasing government support, the liberalization of trade, and reform programs. Still, agriculture is important for the country: As of 2017, more than a quarter of Filipinos are still working in the agricultural sector, and urbanization has only increased very slightly over the last decade.

The current health expenditure as a share of the GDP in Thailand was forecast to continuously increase between 2024 and 2029 by in total 1.4 percentage points. After the tenth consecutive increasing year, the share is estimated to reach 7.11 percent and therefore a new peak in 2029. According to Worldbank health spending includes expenditures with regards to healthcare services and goods. It is depicted here in relation to the total gross domestic product (GDP) of the country or region at hand.The shown data are an excerpt of Statista's Key Market Indicators (KMI). The KMI are a collection of primary and secondary indicators on the macro-economic, demographic and technological environment in up to 150 countries and regions worldwide. All indicators are sourced from international and national statistical offices, trade associations and the trade press and they are processed to generate comparable data sets (see supplementary notes under details for more information).Find more key insights for the current health expenditure as a share of the GDP in countries like Laos and Philippines.