Benise Balaoing

Visitors flock to Boracay Island in Malay, Aklan. Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News

Article (news)

Boracay Island

Allison Co

ABS-CBN News

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px;display:block" width="960"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img data-fr-image-pasted="true" src="https://od2-workbench-api.abs-cbn.com/api/upload-raw/20260204060248/1081299ccda08f8555c2e705dd4a4b977e0c671f8a1db1faff7b0b4eef7a661b.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Visitors flock to Boracay Island in Malay, Aklan. Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News </span></span></span></div><div><br/></div><p>MANILA — Despite having the largest tourism economy in the ASEAN region, the Philippines continues to trail its neighbors in terms of actual tourist arrivals, particularly when compared to Thailand and Vietnam.</p><p>“The World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) in their latest economic impact report delivered during the ASEAN Tourism Forum has attested to the fact that the Philippines is now the biggest tourism economy in the ASEAN,” Department of Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco said in a media forum on Wednesday. </p><p>According to the WTTC report, the Philippines ranked first in ASEAN, with tourism contributing USD 91.8 billion to the country’s GDP and generating millions of jobs, accounting for 23 percent of total national employment.</p><p>However, this economic strength has yet to translate into higher visitor numbers. In 2025, the Philippines recorded only 6.4 million foreign tourist arrivals, far behind Thailand’s more than 30 million and Vietnam’s over 21 million.</p><p>When asked about the Department of Tourism’s target number of foreign arrivals for 2026, Frasco declined to set a specific goal.</p><p>“Given what I&#x27;ve learned that there are so many unpredictable factors that can affect tourism from day to day I really don&#x27;t want to make any bold predictions,” she said.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/business/2026/1/21/more-expensive-to-travel-in-ph-than-abroad-ptaa-vows-to-offer-reduced-rates-2346">More expensive to travel in PH than abroad? PTAA vows to offer reduced rates</a></div><p>Riza Rasco, co-founder of Philippine Global Explorers, attributed the lower arrival figures to the higher cost of traveling to the Philippines compared to neighboring countries, particularly in terms of airfare.</p><p>In line with this, Frasco said the agency was coordinating with the Department of Transportation, airline companies, and the Civil Aeronautics Board to address pricing concerns.</p><p>“We reiterated the necessity of improving the price structure of our airlines as well as the transparency of their publication of these price structures. The very concrete action that we took on this was that we requested that the Civil Aeronautics Board publish a monthly index of airline tickets,” Frasco said.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/business/2026/2/3/tourism-chief-wants-to-review-deregulation-of-airline-industry-amid-high-fares-1659" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Tourism chief wants to review deregulation of airline industry amid high fares</a></div><p>Rasco, however, noted that airfare was only part of the issue, stressing the need to also examine hotel rates and ground transportation costs.</p><p>“It&#x27;s a tip of the iceberg. You know, our hotels are overpriced as well or they&#x27;re not good value compared with, you know, Thailand and Vietnam and China... The visitors get charged much more on the ground and there has been a lot of complaint about that,” she said. </p><p>Frasco clarified that hotel pricing and other product fees fall under the jurisdiction of the Department of Trade and Industry and local government units but assured the public that the DOT was closely coordinating with concerned agencies and stakeholders to address these issues.</p><p>To boost tourist arrivals, Frasco noted the approval of a P1 billion budget for marketing and promotion, which is ten times higher than last year’s P100 million allocation.</p><p>In marketing strategy, Rasco also underscored the importance of preserving the country’s cultural identity and heritage through creativity and authenticity rather than replicating what other countries are doing.</p><p>“So our competitive advantage is that it&#x27;s not that we can copy destinations, global destinations. Our advantage is that we are the Philippines,” she added.</p><div><strong>RELATED STORIES:</strong></div><div><strong><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/2/4/frasco-orders-removal-of-tourism-materials-with-her-image-1410"></a></strong><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/2/4/frasco-orders-removal-of-tourism-materials-with-her-image-1410"></a><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/2/4/frasco-orders-removal-of-tourism-materials-with-her-image-1410">Frasco orders removal of tourism materials with her image</a><br/><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/business/2026/1/29/dot-travel-tax-supports-tourism-infrastructure-education-0100">DOT: Travel tax supports tourism infrastructure, education</a> <strong></strong></div><div><iframe width="1201" height="675" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/lUwjlW1uRCM" title="Frasco nagpaliwanag sa paggamit ng mga larawan niya sa tourism promo materials | TV Patrol" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><iframe width="1201" height="675" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MzXwDtleI4I" title="How Philippines is earning as host of the ASEAN Tourism Forum 2026 | DZMM TeleRadyo" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div>

<p>Despite having the largest tourism economy in the ASEAN region, the Philippines continues to trail behind its neighbors in terms of actual tourist arrivals.</p>

Despite having the largest tourism economy in the ASEAN region, the Philippines continues to trail behind its neighbors in terms of actual tourist arrivals.

The Tourism Paradox: PH leads tourism GDP but lags in foreign arrivals

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The Tourism Paradox: PH leads tourism GDP but lags in foreign arrivals

Allison Co,

ABS-CBN News

Published February 04, 2026 04:22 PM PHT

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tourism

tourism economy

ASEAN

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