The Philippines remains an ideal travel destination despite attracting one of the fewest visitors in Southeast Asia.
The Federation of Filipino Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry Inc. (FFCCCII), however, called for reforms such as making peace and order a national priority, adopting competitive visa policies, improving infrastructure and connectivity and implementing narrative rebranding.
FFCCCII president Victor Lim said he supports Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Juanito Victor Remulla’s remarks at the Hotel Sales and Marketing Association’s (HSMA) Summit about the need to confront the systemic issues undermining the nation’s potential as a premier global destination.
Lim said while the Philippines possesses unparalleled competitive advantages in the ASEAN region, it languishes at sixth place in ASEAN tourist arrivals.
“While Thailand welcomed 36 million visitors in 2024 and Malaysia 25 million, the Philippines attracted a mere 5.95 million foreign tourists. This is not a failure of appeal but of assurance—travelers do not doubt our beauty; they doubt their safety. The perception of instability, fueled by crime, political turbulence, and a perceived culture of impunity, has cast a shadow over our global image. If we are to compete, we must act decisively,” said Lim.
Blessed with over 7,600 sun-kissed islands, some 1.65 million tourists visited the Philippines in the first quarter of 2025, based on data from the Department of Tourism (DoT). This was far from its target of 8.4 million for 2025.
In 2024, the DoT failed to meet its 7.7 million target, ending the year with only 5.9 million tourists despite including returning overseas Filipinos and OFWs in the count. This figure lags behind Thailand’s 36 million visitors in 2024, Malaysia (25 million), Vietnam (17.6 million), Singapore (16.6 million), Indonesia (13.9 million) and Cambodia (6.7 million).
Local airfares are also too high, prompting more Filipino tourists to opt to travel abroad than visit Boracay, Siargao, Batanes, Bohol or Siquijor.
As of November 2024, a one-way trip to Batanes costs almost P8,000, while the cheapest roundtrip to Seoul is roughly P7,400. Tourism stakeholders are pleased that San Miguel Corp. has taken over the operation of Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).
Allan Tumbaga, a former banking and insurance executive, described his latest travel as “pleasant” because services at NAIA greatly improved. “My experience at NAIA-3 was pleasant. Fast check-in, immigration and security check,” Tumbaga said from Bhubaneswar, India.
Tumbaga is among the thousands of Filipino jet-setters who prefer to travel abroad rather than domestically. The reason? Better airfare.
“I find domestic travel not complicated but uncomfortable. Recently, we changed trips to go to Hanoi instead of a local location because it was much cheaper,” he said.
Kaye Perez, a marketing officer at BDO Unibank, has the same observation. “The unfavorable airfares in local destinations push Filipinos to go to Saigon, Singapore or Malaysia instead,” Perez said.
She said they planned to go to Batanes several times, but the airfares have never become affordable and instead, soared further.
“Too expensive for what you get. Hard to move around. Not sure where to go or what to do,” a tourist from the Czech Republic said.
An observer noted that while the Philippines’ gastronomy tourism, halal-friendly tours, farm stays and adventure sound good on paper, they fail to translate into actual arrivals.
“You can’t fix tourism with hashtags and photo ops. You fix it with infrastructure, access, service quality and value for money,” according to Thea Tan in her Facebook post.
Former Department of Tourism assistant secretary Frederick Alegre underscored the need to improve tourism infrastructure.
“What we still suggest up to now is more infrastructure, aggressive marketing and promotions and peace and order to reach the Philippines’ full tourism potentials,” said Alegre, who served as DoT assistant secretary from 2016 to 2018.
The former DoT executive is glad that NAIA is now being operated by a private entity. “I hope more airports will be turned over to private groups,” he said.
