Visitor arrival target maintained at 6.7 million despite Middle East war

THE Department of Tourism (DoT) said it is maintaining its visitor arrival target of nearly seven million this year, even in the face of concerns about the Iran war’s impact on travel demand.

“I do not want to overpromise, but for me, if we can maintain that number given the situation, then we will be happy. But I think we can do well,” Tourism Secretary Dita Angara-Mathay told reporters on the sidelines of the Tourism Congress, Inc. National Conference on Wednesday.

For this year, the Tourism department is hoping for 6.7 million visitors.

Tour-ism arrivals amounted to 6.48 mil-lion in 2025, accord-ing to the Bur-eau of Immig-ra-tion, sig-ni-fic-antly below the tallies for Malay-sia (38.2 mil-lion), Thai-l-and (32.9 mil-lion), and Viet-nam (21.1 mil-lion).

The DoT reported that visitor arrivals fell 2.16% year on year to 5.24 million in the 11 months to November 2025, following a decline in tourists from South Korea and China.

“Demand is not disappearing but it is shifting…. the DoT will take a more active and deliberate role in coordination. We will work to strengthen international connectivity and domestic routes,” she said, adding that the DoT will focus on strengthening links to Asia and long-haul markets.

The DoT also opposes proposals to remove the travel tax, Ms. Angara-Mathay said, noting the tax’s role in strengthening tourism. 

“It contributes to training, education, infrastructure and preservation of cultural heritage. We want to keep on doing that,” she said.

The travel tax was first imposed via Republic Act No. 1478 in 1956 and later amended through Presidential Decree No. 1183 in 1977.

The government collects a travel tax of P1,620 from economy air passengers and P2,700 from first class air passengers.

Exempted from paying the travel tax are overseas Filipino workers (OFW), Filipino permanent residents abroad who stayed less than a year in the Philippines, and children aged two years and below.

The law allocates 50% of the proceeds from the travel tax to the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority, while 40% of the proceeds going to the Commission on Higher Education for tourism-related education programs. The remaining 10% goes to the National Commission for Culture and the Arts.

In March, the House of Representatives approved on final reading a bill scrapping the travel tax.

“I hope they do not implement it. I know it is not a popular opinion. We cannot suddenly just have a gap in the subsidy for these very important things,” she said. — Ashley Erika O. Jose