Why is there so little tourism in the Philippines ?

Question

Phil has some of the most beautiful beaches in the world (boracay has been voted the most beautiful in the world for 5 yrs ) but almost no tourism when compared to many other places with FAR less to offer,like hawaii and mexico! And the people are so friendly as well. I wont even mention the beautiful women !! So why ??

Answer 1

Few reasons:

1. Lack of marketing. Hawaii and Mexico are heavily marketed (especially in the Bay Area where I am from). For further places, Thailand always comes up, again due to marketing. The only thing most people hear about the Philippines is the corruption, human rights issues, etc. Once people do come however, they often love it.

2. Lack of online presence. For most of my vacations I go online to virtualtourist or the like and start researching. When it comes to booking the trip, I often go to the hotel website. Here it is not that simple. Once must call (easy for me here in Manila but a pain for a foreigner outside the country) and rely on word of mouth. I am currently planning a weekend to Batangas and am having trouble finding information. For my multiple trips to Hawaii, I did everything online and had almost too much information.

3. Prices. Compared to other countries in the region, the Philippines (resort areas--El Nido, Coron, Pearl Farm, Boracay, Bohol) is not that cheap. Accommodations are much cheaper in Thailand, Vietnam, etc.

4. Lack of Government initiative. The WOW Philippines website is a great idea (even with that wretched music) but it is full of dead links and outdated information. There should also be explanations there for basic tourist questions (i.e., how do I get from International to Domestic terminals, best time of year to come, tipping practices, transportation options).

I personally belive that the Philippines has tons to offer tourists and with the correct sales & marketing could become a top tourist destination in SEA. Tourism would also help bring money INTO to country as well as create jobs so hopefully so many people would no be forced to work overseas.

Answer 2

The Philippines can be an equal or even exceed tourism in Thailand if a few things were done. First the government or tourist authority must spend some money and promote the tourism already in place and tell the world the advantages of travel to the Philippines. I have never ever seen one poster of the Philippines in any travel agency here in Canada. Secondly, the lower priced hotels, motels and accommodations must do more to make a persons stay more comfortable. The 5 star hotels are great, but the $20-$30 hotels are really in need of some attention, for the most part. Just even coat hangers!!! I have been to Europe twice, Asia 5 times, including Japan, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore, and Hong Kong, but my times in the Philippines have been some of the best. People, mostly men, love the Filipino people, and of course mostly the women, but the food leaves something to be desired and service in restaurants is slow and not on par with what Westerns expect. Meals in the Philippines are often served at different times to people sitting at the same table. Tourists don't like that! Otherwise, very hospitable people and most people speak English.

Answer 3

That's a false premise. The Phils does NOT have little Tourism. Underdeveloped maybe, but not little. If you check at the annual peso contribution of the Tourism industry to the country's GDP, you'll be surprised to find out that Tourism has the highest , if not second to the highest contribution (and that's in millions/billions of dollars) like the OFW remittances.

But you do raise some valid inputs that tourism in the Philippines can still be improved. We just need more people with the knowledge and know-how on how to do proper tourism planning and development.

Answer 4

True that the Philippines has some amazing beaches but tourism infrastructure in the country is- to say the least- pathetic, if we compare with Thailand, Malaysia or Indonesia. For example, there are no decent, budget hotels in most places in the Philippines.

Also, in comparison, a visit to the Philippines would work out more expensive despite the high rate of the Piso to the US Dollar ( about 51 Pisos) or Euro, while a trip to Thailand will cost lesser despite the lower exchange rate to the dollar (about 38 Baht).

The Philippines has a negligible number of domestic, low cost airlines that can fly tourists from one destination to another, unlike Indonesia, which, despite being an archipelago, has almost 20 such carriers. Hence, traveling from one place to another in the Philippines can be a real bother unless one is willing to travel on buses whose seats have very little legroom or on ferry liners of dubious safety and repute. In Thailand and Malaysia, one can travel by bus, train or local airlines.

Unfortunately, the Philippines has developed a bad reputation for having home-grown terrorism and stories of foreign tourists being robbed or mugged by criminals are pretty common. The government also does'nt have sufficient funds to promote tourism, unlike Thailand or Malaysia and the country- despite being Asia's first republic- has no airline that can really represent its tourist interests. Compare that with Thai Airways or Malaysian Airline.

Most Philippine embassies around the world have very little information or brochures to offer interested tourists and there are no significant in-bound travel firms.

Also a major drawback is the variety of restaurants available in the Philippines. While Filipino food- which is not prefered by many tourists due to its strong odor- is commonly available, there are very few ethnic restaurants that cater to foreign tastes, at tourist destinations. How long can a tourist survive on McDonald's or Jollibee or ChowKing etc???

All these combined with political uncertainty, widespread and visible poverty, indifference to foreign tourists by locals and the government...have all served for Philippines to take a back seat in the tourism sector of the Far East.

Answer 5

How can you expect tourists to come in when our own government advertises to the whole world that we have homegrown terrorists and that our local insurgents would never stop fighting the government.

What is funny is that some western powers help the government in advertising the presence of terrorists in this country. There is real intent to keep other nationals away from our shores, for their interest in using this country as a take-off point to any country in the east.

Simply put, reason is political.

Answer 6

For your information, we have a lot of tourists coming in. It slowed down a little during the abu sayaff, travel bans, bombing, sars etc. issues but since last year, our tourists boomed up to now. In fact, even Metro Manila hotels are fully booked and even during low season still had lots of tourists coming in. Per DOT and as travel agent, our tourists tremendously increased.

Answer 7

Let's keep it that way. Keep tourism to the barest minimum to avoid over commercialization of the islands..

Answer 8

well because that's basically what we can offer the beautiful because. there is not a lot of tourist attraction in the Philippines, what they have is all old and when you get to those tourist attraction places you get disappointed.

the beaches are the best in the Philippines, and the People.

Answer 9

we have the most corrupt agency in the region, natural resources are so abundant are untapped by nat. gov. and it is given to foreign company while the gov. is focus on thier personal ambition to gain power and weatlh.

Answer 10

I beg to disagree w you as there are many TOURIST SPOTS IN THE PHILIPPINES FROM NORTH TO THE SOUTH.........