These days, it’s very different. The Southeast Asian nation is hoping to notch a million international visitors this year—a big increase on the paltry number of visitors it welcomed in 2021, but a huge fall from the 7 million that visited in 2019.
In June, the white sand beaches of Boracay were free of foreigners. In June 2022 tourist boat operators on Phi Phi Thai islands were complaining that visitor numbers were “not even half” their pre-pandemic levels.
According to the United Nations World Tourism Organization, international tourist arrivals in Asia-Pacific, from January to May 2022, were 90% below 2019 levels—making it the worst performing region globally. Many experts predict that it will continue to lag behind.
