𝗟𝗼𝘄 𝗙𝗼𝗿𝗲𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝗔𝗿𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗮𝗹: 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘅𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝗣𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗽𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗧𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗺

While the western world now combats against over tourism, the Philippines in other hand struggles to get a good share on foreign arrivals: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1Q44TeFswV/

The latest Seasia stats report placed the Philippines at the bottom with 3m arrivals from January to August 2025 versus the top: Malaysia and Thailand with over 20m respectively, Vietnam with 13m.

Pre-pandemic — in 2019, Thailand records 30m+, Vietnam 18m, The Philippines with 8m. It has always been a struggle for the Philippines. But 2025 is looking the worst so far.

We always read reports on statistics but we don’t often see the reasons why we’re too behind — except for the usual complains how bad our Department of Tourism is being run.

I have personally been following the tourist arrival stats and trends in the past years. I research, collect tourist impressions, and make my own evaluation. Now I want to present a bit of it.

REASONS WHY THE PHILIPPINES IS BEHIND WITH FOREIGN TOURIST ARRIVAL

1) Geographical Isolation — This is the top reason because of the Philippines’ geographic nature. We are an archipelago with 7 thousand islands which make it difficult to reach. Access can only be either by sea or by air. If by sea, our inter-island seacrafts aren’t designed to cater ease and comfort for luxury travellers plus issues on seaworthiness and safety. If by air, we have the most expensive domestic flights in the world plus limited flights on tourist destinations.

2) High Cost and Limited Flights

3) Infrastructure Gaps — Poor inter-island connectivity (ferry systems, regional airports), inconsistent tourism facilities. This affects the ease of travel and comfort, especially for long-haul visitors.

4) Visa and Policy Issues — This is the main reason of the recent drop in 2025 as china is recorded to be the highest inbound travellers. The Philippine-china relations is on troubled waters

prompting the government for Visa restrictions.

5) Perception and Safety Concerns

6) Overreliance on Domestic Tourism

7) Marketing Gap — I see this as a minor issue for the reason that the Philippines is globally recognized and a constant awardee in different fields of tourism. Boracay alone never misses a year without being recognized as the top of the top in tourism. It is also a fact that even how much we try to market, if the first five issues aren’t addressed, marketing efforts become a waste. The best thing to do is after we participate travel expos, we should submit an accomplishment report and copy good practices and tourism management from other international participants.

ACTIONABLE SOLUTION AND STRATEGY TO ADDRESS LOW FOREIGN ARRIVAL

Focus all tourism efforts on prominent Philippine tourist destinations like Boracay. Improve Caticlan Airport facility to a world-class level. Open direct international flights from Western Countries.

Fund and strongly market Boracay in the global stage to let other Philippine tourist destinations become a complemental beneficiary. This strategy has proven to work in the past. Western travellers used to only know Boracay. They targeted to come to the Philippines only to visit Boracay then they later found out other interesting places to explore. But the main reason of coming to the Philippines is Boracay. We can do this again. Boracay is ready to cater all sort of travellers from back packers to luxury travellers.

If you’re able to read this far, catch me next Saturday on Boracay Good News for a more elaborate discussion about this topic.