Fire Frasco
TOURISM Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco should do the honorable thing: resign.
Under her watch, the Philippines’ tourism recovery has stalled while every Asean neighbor — Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia — has surged past pre-pandemic levels.
After all, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has lost the main reason for hiring as tourism secretary someone who has no experience in marketing or heading a large promotion organization: her mother Gwen Garcia is no longer governor of Cebu, one of the biggest electoral bases in the country.
Once billed as “Asia’s next breakout destination,” the Philippines now limps behind, dragged down by bureaucratic decay, weak branding and poor leadership.
According to Department of Tourism (DOT) data, arrivals from January to September 2025 dropped 3.5 percent compared to last year, with Chinese arrivals plunging by 22 percent. In contrast, Vietnam is up 10 percent; Thailand, 8 percent; and Indonesia, 12 percent. Among major Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) destinations, the Philippines is the only one still below 2019 levels.
Accountability
Instead of accountability, Frasco’s team blames everything — budget cuts, airline shortages, “global fatigue.” But leadership is foresight, not excuses.
Frasco’s biggest blunder remains the China e-visa fiasco. In late 2023, the DOT suspended e-visas for Chinese travelers “pending review.” The result was predictable: arrivals crashed by over one-fifth. Only now, two years later, is that e-visa system being relaunched. Meanwhile, Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand waived visa requirements outright for Chinese and Indian tourists. The Philippines? Buried in paperwork.
How do you kill a booming source market? By making it harder to enter. This was not geopolitics — it was mismanagement.
When confronted about missing the 7.7 million foreign arrivals target in 2024, Frasco cited slashed advertising funds — from P1.2 billion pre-pandemic to P100 million — plus limited flights and “travel fatigue.” Yet Thailand spent even less than before and still brought in 28 million visitors — four times our total. Vietnam’s tourism minister negotiated new air routes with Seoul and Tokyo. Frasco, by contrast, turned up at local fiestas for photo ops.
In June 2023, she launched the “Love the Philippines” rebrand to replace “It’s More Fun in the Philippines.” It collapsed immediately after the promo video — costing millions — was caught using stock footage from Brazil and Switzerland. The ad agency was fired, but the damage stuck. The Philippines became a global punchline; its tourism image, a meme. In other countries, that would have triggered a resignation. Frasco called it a “learning experience” and carried on.
Compare the metrics across Asean in 2025:
Every neighbor has bounced back. Only the Philippines is still lagging — and it’s not because our beaches are less beautiful or our people less welcoming, but because our tourism strategy has been reduced to slogans and selfies.
Tourism contributes 6-8 percent of gross domestic product and supports over 5 million jobs. Every drop in arrivals means fewer guides, hotel shifts, jeepney rides and souvenir sales. Frasco was supposed to revive this engine. Instead, she stalled it.
Let’s be honest: Frasco is not a tourism or marketing expert. She’s a political appointee — daughter of former Cebu governor Gwen Garcia and the wife of former Liloan mayor Duke Frasco, a former ally of the disgraced former House speaker Martin Romualdez, but who’s a nobody now after being kicked out as deputy speaker in July. She was awarded the post through alliance, not merit. The output mirrors the appointment. In the private sector, three years of decline would mean dismissal. In government, apparently, it’s ribbon-cutting season.
Tourism is about logistics and access, not hashtags. Coordination across Immigration, Transport, Department of Foreign Affair, and Department of Trade and Industry has been nonexistent. Flight availability remains limited, airports languish, visa rules stay outdated. Frasco’s DOT acts like a provincial festival committee rather than a national marketing agency. Her defenders insist “the industry is vast.” All the more reason the secretary must lead, not pose.
Alibi
The DOT also clings to “domestic tourism” as its alibi. But that’s an economic fallacy. Local travelers don’t inject new dollars; they recirculate the same pesos. Real growth comes from foreign arrivals — and those are flatlining.
The “rebound” phase ended two years ago. Now it’s stagnation. Vietnam has already surpassed 2019 levels by 18 percent; Thailand, by 24 percent. The Philippines remains stuck below 2019 performance, with no new markets on the horizon.
The Philippines still depends heavily on South Korea, the United States, Japan, Australia and China — the same top five markets since the 1990s. While Vietnam and Thailand aggressively wooed India and the Middle East, Frasco’s DOT did nothing comparable. India sent nearly 1 million tourists to Vietnam in 2024; fewer than 80,000 came here. That’s not misfortune — that’s failure.
Frasco’s department promotes “resilience” through domestic travel, but true recovery requires international inflows. Without them, tourism’s foreign exchange contribution collapses. The Philippines cannot keep claiming “potential” while others deliver performance.
Even tourism stakeholders — normally cautious to criticize — are losing faith. Hotel operators whisper that DOT promotions are “directionless.” Airlines see no national aviation strategy. Regional tourism boards say coordination meetings yield “nothing actionable.” Once industry confidence collapses, the secretary loses not just trust but moral authority.
Tourism is not a pageant, and the DOT is not a stage. It is an economic portfolio requiring competence, urgency and international negotiation skill — qualities missing under Frasco’s tenure.
President Marcos must now decide: Can he afford another year of drift in one of the few sectors earning foreign exchange? Keeping Frasco would signal tolerance of mediocrity; replacing her would signal seriousness about reform. Leadership means making difficult calls before stagnation becomes decline.
To rescue the sector, the next tourism chief must:
– Restore credibility by appointing professionals, not political family members.
– Rebuild the branding fund to at least P1 billion, focused on genuine global campaigns.
– Negotiate open skies and air links with Seoul, Tokyo, Dubai and Delhi.
– Fix the visa system — automate, simplify and remove red tape.
– Pursue bilateral tourism pacts with emerging markets like India, China and the Gulf.
– Create a national tourism council chaired by the president for interagency coordination.
None of these are radical. They’ve been Asean best practices for years. The Philippines just lacks execution.
Frasco has enjoyed the perks of office — foreign trips, conferences, ribbon-cuttings — but has failed to deliver numbers. When tourist arrivals increase, officials claim the credit; when they fall, true leaders take the blame. That’s the essence of public accountability.
Her resignation would not be humiliation — it would be an act of dignity. By stepping down voluntarily, she could still salvage her reputation and allow a more qualified successor to rebuild confidence. Professionals in airlines, cruise lines and global hotel chains are ready; they only need an opening — and freedom from dynastic politics.
The numbers tell the story: foreign arrivals declining, market share shrinking, branding credibility gone. Three years of hollow slogans and unfulfilled targets have exhausted patience both inside and outside the industry. The Philippines deserves better than a Department of Tourism that behaves like a social media office.
If Secretary Frasco truly “loves the Philippines,” as her failed slogan declared, she should prove it — by loving the country enough to step aside.
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The post Fire Frasco first appeared on Rigoberto Tiglao.
Fire Frasco
Source: Breaking News PH
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