MANILA: The Philippines is among the slowest to recover in intra-Asean tourism, lagging behind most South-East Asian neighbours despite a regionwide rebound, according to Asean tourism statistics from 2019 to 2024 by the Asean Statistics Division (Aseanstats).
An analysis by University of the Philippines associate professor and Inquirer data scientist Dr Rogelio Alicor Panao showed that even before the pandemic, the Philippines trailed far behind regional tourism leaders. In 2019, it logged 526,832 intra-Asean visitors, a modest figure compared with Malaysia’s 17.9 million and Thailand’s 10.8 million.
The pandemic then dealt a deeper blow. Visitor numbers plunged to 7,773 in 2021, one of the steepest contractions in the region.
While Asean travel began recovering in 2022, the Philippines’ rebound remained subdued. Arrivals climbed to 188,205 in 2022 and 484,465 in 2024, still below pre-pandemic levels.
Meanwhile, Malaysia and Thailand had largely regained their 2019 volumes by 2024, while Cambodia and Vietnam doubled their 2022 figures within two years.
“In a region where intra-Asean travel has nearly returned to its pre-pandemic scale — reaching 48.5 million in 2024 — the Philippines remains a relative laggard,” Panao said in his analysis.
He said the country’s slower recovery suggests structural constraints, including higher travel costs, weaker regional connectivity and delayed reopening compared with Asean peers.
A wider tourism gap
The pattern mirrors the country’s broader tourism performance.
International arrivals to the Philippines remain below pre-pandemic levels even as neighbouring destinations surge ahead.
Data from the Department of Tourism (DOT) showed the country recorded 5.24 million visitors in the first 11 months of 2025, about 37% below 2019 levels, while Vietnam reached 22 million arrivals, surpassing its pre-Covid performance.
Tourism Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco earlier pointed to a “big disparity” between the Philippines and Asean neighbours, noting the country operates with a much smaller tourism promotion budget than competing destinations.
“While we are operating at only over P3 billion, we are competing with countries that have devoted far more, especially in terms of marketing and promotions,” she said last year.
In a press briefing earlier this month, Frasco said a 93% cut in the DOT’s budget left the department “with only 100 million in branding and marketing in 2025.”
When asked about the cuts, she said, “From 2023, it was 1.3 billion, and that became only 200 million in 2024, and 100 million in 2025. Our competitors outspent us anywhere from three to 10 times more.”
Despite those figures, she said, “Philippine tourism still managed to deliver” through several campaigns.
Infrastructure, costs, connectivity
Longstanding structural issues continue to shape the country’s competitiveness.
Curtis Chin, a senior adviser at the Milken Institute and former US ambassador to the Manila-based Asian Development Bank, said travel in the Philippines often feels “more hassle than fun,” citing congested airports, fragile interisland connectivity and uneven transport infrastructure.
Ease of movement remains a decisive factor in South-East Asia’s tourism race. Travellers comparing destinations often find Vietnam and Thailand offer “a combination of affordability, convenience and well-established tourism infrastructure,” according to tourism attache Erwin Balane.
The two countries, Balane said, have “highly developed tourism industries with efficient transportation systems, a wide range of accommodations, and clearly organised tour services, making travel easy even for first-time visitors.”
Higher travel costs also weigh on demand. Balane said tour prices in the Philippines have risen since the pandemic due to operating expenses and higher service fees, while infrastructure development has not kept pace.
Recent policy moves also reflect growing attention to travel costs. Lawmakers are pushing to abolish the mandatory travel tax, currently P1,620 for economy passengers and P2,700 for first class, to reduce expenses and stimulate travel activity.
Sen Francis Pangilinan said lowering the cost of international travel could “stimulate passenger volume, increase spending on transport, accommodation, food and services, and generate positive spillovers across the economy,” while helping position the Philippines as a more accessible and competitive destination.
A separate House measure estimates that removing the tax could lower ticket prices and expand travel demand, with projections showing potential economic gains from increased tourism-related spending.
The proposal—now among the administration’s priority legislative measures—underscores how cost competitiveness remains central to strengthening the country’s tourism recovery and regional positioning.
Domestic tourism carrying the load
Despite weaker international arrivals, domestic tourism has helped sustain the industry.
Citing the World Travel and Tourism Council’s impact report, Frasco said last year that the Philippines leads South-East Asia in domestic tourism spending, reaching $63.4 billion in 2024 from more than 134 million trips and accounting for 35.8% of Asean’s total domestic tourism expenditure.
“These figures underscore the love of Filipinos for their own country and their vital role in sustaining local destinations,” she said.
Tourism earnings also remained strong. In 2024, the sector generated more than P760 billion in revenue, even as arrival targets were missed.
Still, analysts say domestic travel alone cannot fully offset the economic impact of slower international arrivals.
External pressures
Beyond structural constraints, external forces—from geopolitics to safety perceptions—have also slowed the Philippines’ tourism recovery.
China, whose tourists once made up the country’s second-largest source of visitors, has sharply declined amid geopolitical tensions and reduced connectivity. Tourism officials said China-Philippines routes are operating at only about 45% of pre-pandemic levels, limiting arrivals from what used to be one of the country’s biggest markets.
Frasco earlier acknowledged the impact of geopolitics on visitor numbers, saying: “Nobody could have anticipated that geopolitics would ultimately affect the arrival of tourists from China, especially since electronic visas for the Chinese market were suspended. This is in stark contrast to the policies of our Asean neighbours, where Chinese visitors either don’t need a visa or can obtain one upon arrival.”
She added: “Originally, we projected that up to two million Chinese tourists would arrive, but by the end of 2024, only a little over 300,000 actually came.”
South Korea — the Philippines’ largest tourism market for more than a decade — has also shown signs of weakness. Visitor arrivals dropped due to safety concerns, disasters and changing travel preferences.
Balane, Manila’s tourism attache for South Korea, said natural disruptions played a role, explaining that “successive typhoons as well as earthquakes in Cebu and parts of Mindanao disrupted flights, damaged tourism facilities and altered travel itineraries.”
He said media coverage in South Korea reinforced those concerns, adding it “significantly heightened perceptions of risk.”
Security concerns have further influenced travel decisions. Balane told the Inquirer: “Such incidents have eroded traveller confidence and reinforced the belief that the Philippines is less safe than competing destinations in the region.”
Strong economic role, uneven recovery
Despite lagging international arrivals, tourism remains a major pillar of the Philippine economy.
According to the latest World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) Economic Impact Report presented during the Asean Tourism Ministers’ Meeting in Cebu, tourism contributed US$91.8 billion to the Philippine economy, the highest in South-East Asia.
The sector accounted for 19.9% of the country’s GDP and supported about 11.22 million jobs, or roughly 23% of national employment.
“These figures clearly show that the Philippines ranks among Asean’s leading tourism economies,” Frasco said, noting that tourism remains “a powerful driver of inclusive growth, job creation, and economic resilience.”
Recent data also show continued strength in tourism revenues, even as the recovery in visitor arrivals remains uneven. The DOT reported that tourism earnings reached P65.3 billion in January 2025 alone, surpassing pre-pandemic levels for the same period in 2019 and marking a 151.46% increase from January 2019.
Still, tourism officials reported 1,167,908 foreign arrivals in the first two months of 2025, indicating steady improvement but also highlighting the slower pace of international visitor recovery compared with regional peers — particularly in intra-Asean travel, where the Philippines continues to trail much of South-East Asia.
The regional challenge
For Panao, the numbers point to a broader regional challenge rather than a short-term fluctuation.
“The Philippine tourism trajectory suggests that recovery has been slower and structurally constrained, possibly reflecting higher travel costs, weaker regional connectivity, or delayed tourism reopening compared with its Asean peers,” he said.
As intra-Asean travel continues to rebound and regional mobility expands, how the Philippines addresses these structural gaps may determine whether it can narrow the distance with its neighbours in the years ahead. - Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN
