Foreign investments in the sectors of infrastructure and public services will greatly benefit Philippine tourism, enabling the country to capture a larger market of foreign tourists that are all flocking to the country's Southeast Asian neighbors.

This is according to former Senate President Juan Miguel “Migz” Zubiri, also the chair of the Senate Committee on Economic Affairs, during the panel’s hearing on Senate Resolution No. 1121, or the inquiry into the economic impact of poor and inadequate infrastructure, frequent power outages, and insufficient water supply on the tourism sector.

“Talo naman natin ang mga beach at ang mga tanawin ng mga kapitbahay natin dito sa Southeast Asia (We're better than our neighbors in Southeast Asia when it comes to beaches and sceneries),” Zubiri said.

“Pero talong-talo nila tayo sa mga airport, sa power supply, sa public transport, at sa connectivity. Kaya napag-iiwanan pa rin tayo, kahit mas maganda naman talaga dito sa Pilipinas (But they're ahead of us when it comes to airports, powers supply, public transport and connectivity. That's why we're still being left out even if it's more beautiful here in the Philippines),” he added.

In 2023, Thailand had the best tourism economy in Southeast Asia, receiving 28 million foreign arrivals. This was followed by Malaysia with 20 million, Singapore with 13.6 million, Vietnam with 12.6 million, Indonesia with 11.7 million, and Cambodia 5.5 million. The Philippines, meanwhile, welcomed only 5.4 million foreign visitors.

“Tourism is the low-lying fruit that can help us increase our GDP growth once we get our acts together,” he pointed out. “The market is there, the natural resources are there. We just have to invest in our tourism infrastructure.”

Zubiri stressed that the government must partner with the private sector to build the necessary infrastructure for key and rising tourism areas, particularly in terms of developing energy generation, transmission and distribution facilities.

“Walang papasok na investors sa mga tourist destinations natin kung napakataas ng presyo ng kuryente, o kung hindi kaya ng power supply ng mga electric cooperatives ang power demand nila (No investors will enter our tourist destinations if the price of electricity is too high, or if the electric cooperatives cannot deliver the power supply being demanded),” he added.

“Kung makapasok man sila, sa mga turista at residente naman mismo babagsak ang napakataas na power costs, at ayaw rin natin ‘yan (If they do enter, it's the tourists and residents who will suffer from the high cost power, and we do not want that),” Zubiri continued.

In his conversations with regional stakeholders, the cost and the supply of power emerged as a common deterrent to tourism development, especially for off-grid island destinations.

“We were able to solve this power problem for Boracay, and we need to do it for other tourist areas as well,” he said. “We can look at renewable energy as a more sustainable, more reliable, and more cost-effective solution.”

On top of inefficiencies in infrastructure and power supply, Zubiri pointed out that the lack of direct international flights to our tourist destinations inhibits potential visitors from traveling here, pushing them to go to more easily accessible destinations in our neighboring countries instead.

In response to the web of problems plaguing the tourism sector, Zubiri is pushing for the formation of a tourism cabinet cluster that will oversee inter-agency efforts to improve infrastructure and public services in the sector.