Based on the 2012 Household Survey on Domestic Visitors (HSDV), an estimated 25.7 million Filipinos who are 15 years old and above had traveled to any place within the country from April to September 2012 (Table 1).  These represented 39.2 percent of the total Filipinos who were 15 years old and over in 2012.  The proportion of female travelers (52.2%) was higher than the male travelers (47.8%).

Out of the 25.7 million domestic travelers, 27.9 percent were in the age group 15 to 24 while 25.8 percent were in the age group 25 to 34.  These two age groups combined made up more than half (53.7%) of the total domestic travelers.  Those in ages 35 to 44 years comprised 19.4 percent, while those in ages 45 to 54 years, 14.4 percent.

Ninety-eight percent of the total domestic travelers had arranged for their own trips.  Those who availed of package tour accounted for only 1.3 percent.  On the average, a domestic traveler had two trips during the past six months.

The main purpose of their most recent trip for a larger percentage of the travelers (41.0%) was to visit friends or relatives or attend family gatherings (Table 2).  The other commonly cited purpose was for pleasure or vacation with 36.7 percent of domestic travelers citing such reason.

For the domestic travelers who had arranged for their most recent independent trip irrespective of purpose, the average expenditure was Php1,563 (Table 3).  Independent travelers whose main purpose of trip was for pleasure or vacation had spent more than such average.  For this group of travelers, the average amount spent during their last trip was Php1,818. Most of them spent on transportation and food and beverages. 

Meanwhile, the average expenditure of travelers who had paid for a package tour regardless of purpose was Php8,372 (Table 4).   Those who had paid for a package tour and whose main purpose of travel was for pleasure or vacation reported an average expenditure of Php11,870.  Aside from the package tour cost, a large proportion of the package tour travelers spent additional expenses on ‘shopping’ and food and beverage.

Six in every ten (60.3%) of the domestic travelers did not stay overnight in the places visited during their most recent trip (Table 5).  Those who stayed overnight accounted for 39.7 percent.  Majority of them spent one to three nights in the places visited during their most recent trip.  Most of these travelers stayed in the house of relatives or friends (73.4%) [Table 6]. 

The most frequently visited place was the National Capital Region (NCR) with 1.5 million visitors or 15.7 percent of the total domestic visitors who traveled mainly for pleasure or vacation, during their most recent trip (Table 7). 

Among the long holiday weekends, the most preferred period for domestic travels were Rizal Day and New Year wherein nearly half of the domestic travelers traveled mainly for pleasure or vacation (Table 8).  During these long holidays, the majority were day visitors only (75.8%).  

Among those who traveled outside the country, the estimated outbound travelers reached 274 thousand from April to September 2012 (Table 9).  More than half of them were females (52.8%). Six in every ten of them were 25 to 54 years of age (63.3%).   On the average, each traveler visited one place in the foreign country.  The top four foreign destinations were  Malaysia, Singapore, China and Thailand.

Meanwhile, according to this survey, 11.4 million households received domestic visitors during the six-month reference period (Table 10).  More than half (55.3%) of these households received day visitors only, while 19.1 percent had overnight visitors.

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Technical Notes

The 2012 Household Survey on Domestic Visitors (HSDV) was primarily undertaken in order to collect data on domestic tourism in the country as well as outbound travel of Filipinos during the six-month reference period. A joint undertaking by the Department of Tourism (DOT) and the National Statistics Office (NSO), this nationwide survey was conducted in November 2012.  The sample covered about 12,500 sample households deemed sufficient to produce a national estimate.

The reference period covered by the survey was April to September 2012, except on the questions on future travel for the next 12 months and long holiday weekends during the period November 2011 to October 2102.

Domestic travel is defined as the act of moving from usual place of residence to another municipality in the Philippines by a person who is a resident of the Philippines (regardless of nationality), irrespective of the purpose of travel, length of stay and means of transport used. International travel on the other hand, is the act of moving from usual place of residence to another country by a person who is a resident of the Philippines (regardless of nationality), irrespective of the purpose of travel, length of stay and means of transport used.  Meanwhile, a domestic visitor also referred to as domestic traveler is any person residing in the Philippines regardless of nationality and who travels to a place (municipality) in the Philippines other than his usual place of environment for a period not more than 365 days, whose main purpose of trip is other than the exercise of an activity remunerated from within the place visited. 

In this release, only core indicators on domestic tourism were generated. The figures presented are still preliminary, hence subject to change.