Tourism as a transformative force in the Philippines’ national agenda requires substantial and continued investment, according to Isabela 6th district Representative Faustino Dy V who sponsored the Department of Tourism’s (DOT) budget for fiscal year 2025.

At the 2025 Plenary Budget Hearing at the House of Representatives on Wednesday, minority legislators, however, called for a higher budget for the agency.

The DOT and its attached agencies have a total proposed budget amounting to P3.394 B, of which 83 percent or P2.84 billion is allocated to the Office of the Secretary Attached agencies such as the National Parks Development Committee will get an allocation of P384 million, while the Intramuros Administration and the Philippine Commission of Sports Scuba Diving will have P146 million and P25 million, respectively.

“Budget is not merely a fiscal allocation, but rather strategic investment of our nation’s future…During the Committee hearings, we, as a collective body, affirmed not only our endorsement but also our intention to enhance the budget further,” said Dy.

Senior Deputy Minority Leader and Northern Samar 1st district Representative Paul Daza urged for the Majority’s reconsideration of the DOT’s budget. 

He pointed out the huge disparity between tourism’s economic contributions and the fiscal support it gets year after year through the National Expenditure Program.

“The tourism sector brings in at least around (8.6)  percent of the GDP of our country, (yet), if you do the simple mathematics, P3.3 billion proposed budget for 2025 is less than one-half of one percent of the proposed National Expenditure Program for 2025. 

Over 6.2 million Filipinos are employed in tourism. In 2023, domestic and international tourism expenditure reached P3.36 trillion while the tourism direct gross value added hit P 2.09 trillion.