MANILA, Philippines – Lower budget allocations for tourism programs and projects, as well as “strict” policies toward foreign visitors entering the Philippines, can possibly impede the country to achieve its target number of tourist arrivals, according to the Department of Tourism (DOT).
During an interview over the program Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon aired on People’s Television Network (PTV) last January 10, Tourism Secretary Christina Garcia-Frasco revealed that the funding for the agency’s branding and promotion programs under the General Appropriations Act (GAA) for 2025 was slashed from the proposed budget under the National Expenditure Program (NEP) this year.
“The most affected change from NEP to GAA would be the budget for branding and promotions of the Philippines to our markets all over the world, dahil sa NEP ang budget nito ay around P500 million, but when the GAA was released it has been reduced to P100 million,” Frasco said.
Frasco explained that lower budget for marketing and promotions would “test” the DOT’s sustained efforts to make the Philippines more attractive to international visitors.
“The challenge of a very limited funding for branding and promotions is the difficulty of making sure na ang presensya ng Pilipinas sa consciousness ng potential travelers in markets around the world is always there,” she emphasized.
“Not only the DOT’s “Love the Philippines” tourism campaign will be affected, but also “our destinations itself that will ultimately be the recipients of promotions being done by the DOT,” she added.
This is not the first time the budget of the DOT was substantially reduced, according to Frasco.
She said the DOT suffered a “hefty” budget cut for its branding program, from Php1.2 billion in 2023 to only Php200 million in 2024, equivalent to a reduction of Php1 billion.
According to data from the DOT, the Philippines received a total of 5,949,350 international visitors and overseas Filipinos in 2024. While it was higher by 9.15 percent than the 5,450,557 foreign tourists in 2023, the 2024 figure was lower than the DOT’s projection of 7.7 million tourist arrivals under the National Tourism Development Plan (NTDP) 2023-2028.
DOT pushes for e-visa policy
During the same interview, Frasco pointed out the challenges faced by the Philippines, ultimately resulting in lower numbers and not reaching the target projections for 2024.
According to Frasco, the suspension of the electronic visa or e-visa for the Chinese market, as well as the ongoing geopolitics involving China, would affect the targeted arrivals from said country.
“Napakalaking challenge nito because originally what we projected is upwards to 2 million ang darating na Chinese tourists, pero ang dumating lang by the end of 2024 was a little over 300,000. This negative recover has gravely impacted our ability to reach targeted projections,” she added.
From the 1,743,309 travelers from China that visited the Philippines in 2019, the DOT recorded only 170,432 in 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic restricted travel, to a plunge of 9,674 in 2021, 39,627 in 2022, 263,836 in 2023, and 312,222 in 2024, based on tallies from the DOT.
The Tourism Chief pointed out that the suspension of the e-visa policy for Chinese travelers was “in stark contrast to the policies of our ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) neighbors kung saan either hindi na kailangan ng visa from China or Chinese visitors or puwede ang visa on arrival.”
Because of this, Frasco mentioned that the DOT consistently advocated for the implementation of electronic visa or e-visa programs especially for potential tourism markets such as China.
However, the DOT somehow sees a silver lining in the rollout of the e-visa system for travelers from India, which Secretary Frasco described as a “large opportunity for the Philippines.”
“We are grateful that the President has directed an e-visa or an electronic travel authority option will be explored for the Indian market. We are hopeful the (DFA) and the Bureau of Immigration can mount that for this year,” she said.
According to previous reports, the DFA has opened e-visa applications for Indian travelers available in the Philippine Embassy in New Delhi and in the country’s honorary consulates in Chennai, Kolkata and Mumbai in late October last year.
Budget cuts in infra tourism could impact targets for 2025
Meanwhile, Frasco expressed concern over the reduction of budget allocations for the construction of more tourism roads for 2025.
“For 2024, P15 billion was devoted for construction and rehabilitation of tourism roads, but for 2025 it stands at only P6 billion,” she said.
Frasco underscored the importance of improving the country’s gateways and other tourism infrastructure like roads to make Philippine tourism globally competitive.
She reported that under the Marcos administration, an estimated 500 Kilometers of tourism roads connecting to tourist attractions like waterfalls, beaches and mountain resorts have been built.
She also noted the public-private partnership (PPP) projects, both current and upcoming, implemented at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in Manila, as well as airports in Bohol, Dumaguete, Laguindingan in Cagayan de Oro, and Bicol.
Equally important to airports are seaports, with the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) pledging to construct more cruise ports across the country, she added.
