MANILA – The year 2025 has set the stage for the world to rediscover the many destinations – popular and emerging – the Philippines offers, including the vibrant tropical paradise of Boracay, surfing haven of Siargao, and the rich historical spots of Manila, to name a few, evidenced by the various international awards and citations the country earned last year.
At the prestigious World Travel Awards alone, the country claimed its 7th consecutive recognition since 2019 as Asia’s Leading Dive Destination, Asia’s Leading Beach Destinations for the 8th time, and Asia’s Leading Island Destinations.
Boracay Island bagged its back-to-back win as Asia’s Leading Luxury Island Destination while Clark Freeport Zone secured global recognition as Asia’s Leading Meetings and Conference Destination.
Luxury travel magazine Conde Nast Traveler (CNT) likewise named Boracay among the world’s top islands in its 2025 Readers’ Choice Awards, alongside Palawan, and Siargao. These islands ranked 4th, 5th, and 7th, respectively in the Asia list, joining other beach destinations, such as Phú Quốc in Vietnam and Phuket in Thailand, as determined by the magazine’s readers in the United Kingdom.
While the country continues to gain world recognition, however, the government admits that 2025 had been a “difficult year” for Philippine tourism as calamities and challenges had an impact on its inbound arrivals.
In a recent interview, Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco said the Philippines was hit with 31 travel alerts from countries from all over the world in the second half of 2025 alone.
As of December 20 last year, the Philippines recorded 5.6 million in foreign visitor arrivals, nearly equal to the inbound figures it logged in 2024, and short of the 2019 recorded levels before the pandemic. China ranked 6th with 262,144, behind South Korea, the United States, Japan, Australia, and Canada.
“We can’t deny all the headwinds and challenges we have faced last year. It has been an incredibly difficult year, especially for tourism. With DOT budget slashed significantly, we had our hands tied,” Frasco said.
“Notwithstanding that, we have earned so many FIRSTs in Philippine tourism, like the recognitions in transit tours, medical tourism, and of course, the innovative projects we continue to implement),” she said, noting, however, the decline in particular markets, even as there has been “robust growth in other markets,” such as the US, Canada, Australia, Germany, Italy, Spain, and several other reliable sources.
This 2026, Frasco said, the country will strengthen its global campaign to pitch “Love the Philippines,” as well as measures to make sure tourist spending and stays grow (PNA)