00:00The Department of Tourism is eyeing to increase their budget to strengthen the country's tourism sector during the House budget deliberations, as our Rod Lagusa lays out the details in this report.
00:12Simply put, the lesser you invest in tourism, the lesser international arrivals you will have.
00:18This was emphasized by Tourism Secretary Cristina Garcia-Frasco during the House Committee and Appropriations hearing on the proposed budget of the Department of Tourism.
00:28The proposed budget of the Department for 2026 amounts to 3.7 billion pesos, which is 4.6 percent, lower than its current 2025 budget of almost 3.9 billion pesos.
00:39We plead for this House's understanding that while we have devoted blood, sweat and tears to the success of this industry, we simply cannot perform as well as we would like if we are given such meager resources as we have.
01:04The DOT is asking for a higher budget to help boost the country's tourism sector.
01:09This is to enable the Philippines to compete with liberating ASEAN countries.
01:13This comes after the country recorded lower international arrivals compared to earlier projection.
01:18According to Frasco, the main reason for missing the target of 7.7 million is the stricter entry of Chinese nationals.
01:24The electronic visa program was launched by the Department of Foreign Affairs and it had projected that they would be able to issue 2 million visas within the span of one year at around 8,000 visas per day.
01:45That 2 million number was not reached because the e-visa program was promptly suspended.
01:53She also cited the country's archipelagic nature, which heavily relies on air travel, unlike neighboring countries that have land travel options.
02:01Despite this, according to Frasco, the Philippines recorded the highest contribution of tourism to gross domestic product or GDP in Southeast Asia.
02:08She added that another important metric to consider is the number of jobs created by the tourism sector, which has already exceeded pre-pandemic figures.
02:16Rod Legu said from the National TV Network for a new and better Philippines.
