When Beauty Isn’t Enough!

Tourism is not measured by the noise of campaigns, the number of interviews, or how catchy a slogan sounds. Tourism is measured by how many visitors actually arrive, how easy it is for them to move around, and the kind of experience they take home. By all these measures, it is clear that the Philippines has fallen behind in the post-pandemic tourism competition in Asia.

While neighboring countries have rapidly returned to their pre-pandemic levels, the Philippines has recovered only about 60 percent of its foreign tourist arrivals compared to 2019. Thailand is already at 95 percent, Malaysia is close to full recovery, Vietnam has surpassed its pre-pandemic arrivals, and Singapore is nearly back to normal. This is why, in both regional and global rankings of international arrivals, the Philippines remains in the middle to lower tier, despite its world-class beaches and strong cultural appeal.

This is the deeper context surrounding the current public discourse involving Tourism Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco. Senate scrutiny over alleged self-promotion—despite her defense that no public funds were used—is not the core issue. The real issue is performance in a tourism sector that is critical to jobs, revenues, and regional development.

The first major problem is access and the cost of travel. As an archipelagic country, movement between islands is the backbone of Philippine tourism. Yet flights to Siargao, El Nido, Boracay, Bohol, and Cebu are often 50 to 80 percent more expensive than comparable leisure routes in Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, or South Korea. In some cases, domestic travel is even more expensive than flying to other Asian countries.

But the visitor’s frustration does not end upon arrival. Land travel itself is already a challenge. There are road repairs that have dragged on for years—roads are dug up today, patched tomorrow, and repaired again the following year. The result is endless traffic congestion and travel times that are impossible to predict. What should be a vacation becomes stressful and exhausting, not restful.

When the first impression is chaos, tourists often do not return. In tourism, the land travel experience is a deal-breaker.

“Love the Philippines” may sound appealing, but a slogan cannot clear traffic or make travel easier. In real tourism economics, image cannot substitute for reform.

The outcome is clear. The Philippines has become a second-choice destination. Tourists may like the Philippines, but it is no longer their default option—resulting in lost jobs, lost revenues, and lost opportunities.

In tourism, leadership is not measured by slogans, but by results and visitor experience. This is what Secretary Christina Frasco must seriously reflect on.

“Love the Philippines,” they say.
But for tourists, the questions are simple: Is it easy to visit? Is it competitively priced? And is it worth coming back to?