MANILA — The Bureau of Immigration (BI) said it continues to expect a high volume of travelers in the coming weeks despite ongoing tensions in the Middle East, noting that passenger flow has remained steady even amid airport and flight disruptions.

BI Commissioner Joel Anthony Viado said frontline officers processed a total of 782,344 passengers across all international ports of entry during the peak travel week.

Records showed the agency handled 391,243 arrivals and 391,101 departures from March 29 to April 5, figures which were nearly comparable to the 371,731 arrivals and 361,361 departures recorded during Holy Week last year.

The BI also reported that for the first quarter of 2026, it processed 4,218,683 arrivals and 4,521,001 departures, compared with 3,871,492 arrivals and 4,196,492 departures during the same period in 2025.

The bureau said the numbers indicate minimal changes in overall travel volume, noting that most flights were booked months in advance of the current geopolitical tensions.

However, Viado said travel to and from Middle Eastern countries dropped significantly by about 80 percent during the first quarter.

He added that the BI is hopeful that easing tensions in affected regions would help restore and further increase passenger traffic in the coming weeks.