Where are the tourists?

The tourism secretary sounded like she was trying very hard to keep her Cabinet seat in the face of our pitiful tourism numbers and congressional criticism.

- BOO CHANCO

BBM didn't even bother to mention tourism in his SONA for a paucity of good results.

The tourism department reported that in the first five months of 2025, foreign-national arrivals declined by 2.92 percent compared with the same five-month period in 2024—bringing the total to 2.33 million.

Leechiu Property Consultants predicted last year that international arrivals will just be about six million. As it turned out, it was between 5.64 and 5.95 million, far from the DOT's 7.7 million target.

Realizing the hopelessness of their situation, the tourism department is saying the 7.7-million arrivals goal is a "moving target." Parang P20/kilo rice, an aspiration only.

Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco earlier accused some congressmen of playing politics by cutting the tourism promotions budget because her husband broke up with the majority block.

National Unity Party president and Camarines Sur Gov. LRay Villafuerte, however, said it is about the poor performance of her department.

"Let's talk about real performance. Even in her own province of Cebu, tourism arrivals have dropped. If she cannot even grow tourism in her own backyard, how can we expect her to effectively promote Philippine tourism nationwide?" Villafuerte asked.

The private sector stakeholders were also at a loss because no new targets were set, no guidance on what markets to focus on, no solid marketing plan.

I asked my friend, Manny Gonzalez, who spends almost all his time running the Plantation Bay resort in Mactan what it would take to promote our tourism industry.

Given Manny's extensive experience in the world's best tourism capitals, I am convinced he knows how to do the job right, something that eluded so many tourism secretaries.