Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri urged the government’s economic team to pitch a tourism masterplan to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., stressing the sector’s huge potential as a growth driver.
“One million tourists spending 1,000 USD is a billion dollars of potential income for the country,” Zubiri told the Development Budget Coordination Committee during budget deliberations.
He proposed focusing on 10 key destinations, such as Siargao, Camiguin, and Coron, where funding would prioritize infrastructure, energy, water, and connectivity to attract major investors and boost foreign arrivals.
Finance Secretary Ralph Recto and NEDA Secretary Arsenio Balisacan agreed to raise the idea with the President. Recto noted that tourism funding is already being concentrated in priority areas in coordination with Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco.
Zubiri lamented that the Philippines welcomed only 5.9 million foreign tourists in 2024, trailing even Cambodia’s 6.7 million. He cited costly airfare, poor airport facilities, and expensive, unreliable electricity as major obstacles. The planned transfer of turboprop flights from NAIA to Clark, he warned, could also hurt accessibility.
“We can make the Philippines the next Maldives of Southeast Asian countries. We have better beaches than Thailand and Vietnam, we are maybe next to Indonesia,” according to the senator. “The problem is not advertising alone. It’s the tourism infrastructure… Walang gustong pumasok na malaking hospitality investors.”IMT
