(File photo) MANILA - Domestic tourism continues to rise from the pandemic slump with local trips in 2021 reaching 37.27 million. Based on the latest data presented by the Department of Tourism (DOT) on Tuesday, these figures are 38.16 percent higher than the 26.98 million recorded in 2020. While domestic travel is slowly picking up, the figures are still way below 2019 levels, when about 122.1 million local tourists toured around the country. Meanwhile, foreign visitor arrival was at its lowest in 2021 considering borders were completely closed for leisure travelers. Director Warner Andrada of DOT-Tourism Development Planning, Research and Information Management said 163,879 foreigners entered the country in 2021, down by 88.95 percent from the 1.48 million recorded in 2020. Still, the highest number of inbound travelers since the start of the pandemic until the end of 2021 was logged in December last year at 24,353. "Arrivals exhibited a positive trend from May to December 2021