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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Mark Villar on proposed 2026 national budget: Invest more in tourism

Mark Villar on proposed 2026 national budget: Invest more in tourism

By MBrand
Published Sep 2, 2025 03:22 pm
Senator Mark Villar
Senator Mark Villar
In the Senate Committee on Finance Hearing on the proposed 2026 national budget, Senator Mark Villar urged making more national investments in the country’s tourism sector.
He observed that the Philippines was already lagging behind other Southeast Asian countries, stating that it was high time to focus on optimizing and improving the country's tourism industry.
“Ang gaganda ng offers papuntang Vietnam. Halimbawa, makakakuha ka ng package like three nights or four nights plus round-trip airfare for the equivalent of P18,000. Eh tayo, yung airfare papuntang Siargao is already P18,000… hindi talaga tayo competitive kapag dating sa tourism,” Sen. Villar highlighted.
(The package tours going to Vietnam are attractive. For example, you can get a package for three nights or four nights plus round-trip airfare for P18,000. But in the Philippines, the airfare going to Siargao is already P18,000…we are not competitive when it comes to tourism)
Villar laments that the round-trip ticket prices of international top tourist destinations like Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Thailand are much cheaper than domestic flights. With this, he filed Senate Resolution No. 53 to probe the reason for the unreasonable prices of local flight tickets. Aside from the investigation into the implementation of the rules and regulations of the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) as mentioned in the resolution, he acknowledges that there are also technical issues that the country should resolve.
“I understand there are some technical reasons, tulad ng airport at yung haba ng (like about the length of the) runway. So, it’s really a comprehensive solution. Sana, maganda rin na mag-invest tayo sa (So, it’s high-time we invest in ) tourism infrastructure because it creates [more] jobs… and in other countries in Asia, it is a big source of income,” Villar added.
Senator Villar expressed his support for more tourism investments: “I think para sa government, sulit po ang investment natin sa infrastructure projects related to tourism. I hope that’s given consideration in the budget.”
Senator Mark Villar sees that increasing the amount of investments in tourism from the 2026 proposed national budget will spark numerous positive effects for the country. He believes that pouring more investments into the country’s tourism would be key to attracting more tourists, generating more jobs, and ultimately fostering economic development.

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