The Department of Tourism (DOT) is leading a new campaign called \u201cDiscover More to Love\u201d to boost domestic travel within the Philippines.<\/p>\n
Among its major features is the introduction of curated and discounted travel-related packages by local tourism stakeholders, including several hotels from across the country.<\/p>\n
In an interview over the weekend, Tourism Secretary Dita Angara-Mathay said the campaign would not replace but instead complement the DOT\u2019s primary tourism branding \u201cLove the Philippines,\u201d with the intention of allowing tourists to define their travel experience in their \u201cown personal way.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201c(The thrust is) local muna pero hopefully, we will expand that to international (The thrust would be initially domestic, but hopefully, we will expand that internationally),\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Filipinos love to travel, especially Gen Z and the others, it\u2019s an adventure for them, and we want them to be sound board on what else we can do to improve.\u201d<\/p>\n
Domestic travel remains a strong driver of tourism in the Philippines. Last year alone, it generated at least PHP3.26 trillion in tourist spending, up by 3 percent from PHP3.16 trillion in 2024.<\/p>\n
Beyond strengthening local travel, Angara-Mathay said the DOT is also stepping up efforts to recover the decrease in Korean travelers, while continuing to woo the rest of its top source markets.<\/p>\n
She admitted that the competitive pricing in other Southeast Asian destinations is pulling in more Koreans, which traditionally has been the Philippines\u2019 number one source market for foreign visitors.<\/p>\n
\u201cSouth Korea\u2019s population is declining, but they\u2019re travelers. Ngayon, \u2018yong slot natin kinuha ng Vietnam, kinuha ng other ASEAN countries kasi kalahati lang ang kanilang cost to go there (Now, our slot has been taken by Vietnam and other ASEAN countries because it only costs half to go there),\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n
The DOT, for its part, she said, would continue engaging stakeholders to introduce and craft new \u201ctour bundles\u201d to make the cost of travel to the Philippines more affordable and “predictable.”<\/p>\n
In its latest data, the DOT said the United States now leads as the country\u2019s top market, with 591,569 visitors recorded from January until June 17.<\/p>\n
Asked about the DOT’s overall target for the year, Angara-Mathay said she is optimistic the Philippines would reach at least 6.4 million in inbound arrivals by the end of 2026.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s the hope, but alam mo, ako kasi galing Japan, we tend to be very conservative, pero we will try our very best para (pa)taasin iyan (There\u2019s the hope, but you know, my last post was in Japan, we tend to be very conservative, but we will try our very best to reach and further increase it),\u201d she told reporters. (PNA)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The campaign encourages travelers to rediscover the country\u2019s rich heritage, natural wonders, and unique destinations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":75,"featured_media":264728,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[101],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-264727","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-travel"],"zyndk8_nxtgen_metadata":{"nxtgen_comments":[{"9538":"m4s affordable n4 tour bundles, m4s maraming makakagala \ud83d\ude0d\r","9539":"tour bundles \ud83c\udf9f\ufe0f\r"}]},"yoast_head":"\n