MANILA, Philippines — The school break months of June and July have become a new peak season for outbound international travel, according to the Bureau of Immigration.
BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco said in a statement yesterday that the bureau’s data shows that families are taking advantage of the school break to go on vacations abroad.
“Revenge travel is real and is still very much evident. After the pandemic, a lot of people are itching to travel. After the end of classes, a lot of families saw the opportunity to take their vacations,” he said.
Compared to April and May, the BI observed an increase in international departures last June and officials expect the numbers to remain high this month.
Data from the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminals 1 and 3, which cater to international flights, showed that last April, 946,092 people left the country while in May, there were 979,720 departures.
The BI recorded 1,072,651 people who departed from the two NAIA terminals in June.
“In April, we only saw an average of around 32,000 passengers a day, but in June that number rose to around 36,000,” Tansingco said.
He advised international travelers to arrive early and check in at least three hours prior to their flights to give ample time for airport procedures.
Amid the increase in outbound passengers, Tansingco assured the public that BI counters at the NAIA are fully manned.
“We are assuring the public that all our counters are fully manned, and our officers are working doubly hard to process everyone in a timely manner,” he said.
The BI also has 35 new immigration officers who recently finished training under the Philippine Immigration Academy. They will soon be deployed to the BI’s frontline offices.
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