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Sam Beltran

Earlier this year, a screenshot of a domestic airfare went viral in the Philippines for all the wrong reasons.
The flight was from Manila to Batanes, the country’s remote northern tip. The price: 27,000 pesos (US$440) – enough to fly to Taipei or Hanoi, check into a decent hotel and still have money for dinner.
That disconnect sits awkwardly alongside Manila’s latest effort to rev up domestic travel. On Friday, the Department of Tourism launched “Discover More to Love”, a campaign of discounted hotel, airline and package bundles designed to nudge Filipinos into exploring their own backyard.
It has been billed as a companion to “Love the Philippines”, the government’s foreign tourist drive.

Speaking at the campaign’s launch event in Santa Rosa City, Tourism Secretary Dita Angara-Mathay said it was created “to encourage Filipinos to explore more of our own country and discover even more reasons to love the Philippines”.
“Filipinos love to travel, especially Gen Z. It’s an adventure for them,” Mathay told local media.
The only problem for Manila is that many Filipinos would apparently rather travel abroad.
A survey published in March by travel and ticketing platform Klook found that most of the 500 respondents had their sights set on elsewhere, with 67 per cent eyeing trips to South Korea, Japan and other destinations in Northeast Asia.

Which is not to say that Filipinos do not travel within their own country. Domestic tourism spending reached 3.26 trillion pesos (US$55 billion) in 2025, up 3 per cent year on year, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority. Local bookings on Klook also surged 51 per cent that year, buoyed by weekend escapes to Boracay and Cebu.
“Domestic tourism has always been an economic driver,” said Maricel Gatchalian-Badilla, director of academic affairs at the University of the Philippines’ Asian Institute of Tourism.
She said domestic tourists regularly outnumbered international arrivals by a factor of 10 to 16, esecially during long weekends and public holidays, but added that such tourism “has not been given the due attention and recognition it deserves”.
Indeed, Michael Ricafort, chief economist at Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation in Makati, described the sector as “low-hanging fruit” that had yet to be properly exploited.

Why stay home?
Part of what detracts from domestic tourism in the Philippines comes down to geography. Unlike destinations in mainland Southeast Asia that share long land borders and benefit from easy overland travel, the Philippines is an archipelago of more than 7,600 islands requiring flights or ferries to get around.
Meanwhile, in Vietnam, where five-star hotels can cost as low as US$100 a night, there is no four-hour jeepney ride from the airport to the beach.
“You see a lot of Filipinos there,” said Margie Munsayac, chairwoman of the Hotel Sales and Marketing Association in Manila. “If I can bring the Filipinos back to the Philippines, I would love it.”
Gatchalian-Badilla identified a lack of investment, “poor governance and corruption” as other issues holding the sector back.
“While our Asean neighbours have improved their tourism products and services as well as their infrastructure and connectivity, we have remained the same,” she said.
When Filipinos find it cheaper to go to Taiwan than to Palawan, it is quite logical to go to Taiwan
Maricel Gatchalian-Badilla, tourism professor
She also pointed to a psychology that had long defaulted to valuing the foreign over the local.
“There will also always be the colonial mentality ingrained in our culture [that] others are better,” Gatchalian-Badilla said.
“When Filipinos find it cheaper to go to Taiwan than to Palawan, it is quite logical to go to Taiwan.”

Experts say the key to encouraging domestic tourism is multifaceted, from improved airport-to-destination connectivity, to beach towns positioned as remote-work hubs and tourism infrastructure that is no longer treated as an afterthought.
“Our gateways need to be strategically planned so that tourists’ final destinations would be 40 minutes away from the airport,” Gatchalian-Badilla said.
“What is a beautiful beach if you need to travel four hours by land to get there?”


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The Philippines

A Cebu Pacific passenger plane takes off from Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila. Photo: AFP

A remote fishing village in the extreme northern Philippine island province of Batanes. Photo: AFP

Tourists enjoy a beach on an island off the coast of Palawan province, the Philippines. Photo: AFP

A Cebu Pacific passenger plane takes off from Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport, destination unknown. Photo: AFP

Tourists walk along a street in El Nido, Palawan province, the Philippines last year. Photo: AFP

People gather at a lookout point in Taiwan with the landmark Taipei 101 building in the background. Photo: AFP

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Hot air balloons float near Putra Mosque (left)  in Putrajaya, Malaysia. Photo: EPA-EFE

A RedNote user takes a picture near the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Photo: RedNote

A tourist walks under lanterns prepared for Chinese New Year at Thean Hou temple in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in February. Photo: Reuters

A RedNote user takes a picture near a colourful mural in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Photo: RedNote

Chinese actress Fan Bingbing eats durians in Melaka, Malaysia. Photo: Instagram/bingbing_fan

A tourist tries picking coconuts during an tourism experience organised by the local tourism administration in Johor, Malaysia, last month. Photo: Xinhua

Chinese tourists take a photographs near the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur in 2005. Malaysia has been welcoming Chinese tourists for decades. Photo: AFP

Throngs of tourists and locals cross the street at Bukit Bintang intersection in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Photo: Shutterstock

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People swim at White Beach on Boracay island, Philippines. Boracay was named the world’s leading luxury island destination at the 2024 World Travel Awards. Photo: Getty Images

Tourists at Chocolate Hills in Bohol province in the Philippines. Only 5.7 million tourists visited the country in 2024, well short of the government target of 7.7 million. Photo: Shutterstock

Tourists enjoy the Cambugahay waterfalls in Siquijor, Central Visayas. The Philippines attracted just 2.1 million of Southeast Asia’s 48.5 million tourist arrivals in the first part of the year. Photo: SCMP

Tourists walk along the shores of Boracay beach. The island was closed temporarily in 2018 due to overtourism. Photo: AP

Passengers at Ninoy Aquino International Airport in the Philippines. Filipinos say inaccessibility and transport problems have hindered tourist arrivals in the country. Photo: Shutterstock

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Tourists take photos at Chocolate Hills on Bohol Island in Central Visayas province in the Philippines in December 2025. Photo: AFP

Passengers walk through Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila. Photo: Shutterstock

A tourist surfs on the waters of Siargao Island in Surigao del Norte province on June 7. Photo: Xinhua

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Manila wants Filipinos to explore their own backyard. But when Batanes costs twice as much as Taipei, it’s a tough sell


Manila wants Filipinos to explore their own backyard. But when Batanes costs twice as much as Taipei, it’s a tough sell.


Why would Filipinos holiday at home if abroad is cheaper?

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Manila wants Filipinos to explore their own backyard. But when Batanes costs twice as much as Taipei, it’s a tough sell

Manila wants Filipinos to explore their own backyard. But when Batanes costs twice as much as Taipei, it’s a tough sell