50 Million Tourists a Year for the Philippines? David Leechiu Says it’s Possible

Total tourist arrivals in the Philippines didn’t even reach six million in 2024, but if you ask David Leechiu, hitting 50 million by 2050 isn’t such a farfetched idea. 

Leechiu, who is the CEO and co-founder Leechiu Property Consultants said that the ambitious target of 50 million can be attained through a focus on key tourism destinations, implementing the correct development schemes and government policies, then cascading these to the rest of identified potential locations.

“From 2026 to 2038, we build the runway,” Leechiu said, explaining Phase 1 of his proposed 50/50 strategy. Runway in this context refers to establishing world-class benchmarks, catalyzing anchor destinations, and improving infrastructure, which doesn’t just include roads and bridges, but also airports and seaports, as well as improvements in reliable utilities like power, water, waste management, and digital access.

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“We should further develop Bohol, Palawan, and Siargao; rehabilitate Boracay, Puerto Galera, and Taal or Tagaytay; reimagine major cities as tourist hubs; and establish pilot zones for medical tourism, senior care, wellness tourism, and education tourism,” he added. Along these lines, the Tagaytay-Nasugbu-Batangas corridor can be reimagined as a domestic mass tourism hub.

Leechiu said that cities that he feels can be “reinvented” into tourist hubs include Metro Manila and Cebu, both of which are gateway cities focused on culture, business, food, shopping, nightlife, and events.

Meanwhile, Phase 2, which will run from 2038 to 2050, is all about expanding the tourism map. 

“Scale successful models from Phase 1, diversify source markets, and bring more regions into the tourism economy,” Leechiu said. This will include the further development of the Northern Luzon Coastline, which runs from Pampanga to Baler, Aurora; the rest of the Visayas region; Davao; and Cagayan de Oro.

Inter-island connectivity must also be expanded, he said.

“Thailand has Phuket, Indonesia has Bali,” Leechiu pointed out. “We have a number of [areas] that can be world-class destinations.” He called the effort to prioritize destinations in the country to be developed a “silver bullet” that can help propel the country’s tourism sector to new heights. 

The respected property consultant said he plans to present this plan to policymakers and government leaders who have the power to make things happen. His own vision for tourism development is based on the success of the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector in the country, which was established in 1992, and which benefited from the passage of the Special Economic Zone Act in 1995. The government offered tax incentives and infrastructure support for the industry, which attracted multinational players to set up shop in the country over the years. This year, the sector is estimated to generate about $76 billion in revenue, which benefits 2 million in its workforce.

To attract foreign direct investment between 2026 and 2038, Leechiu also proposed that government offer “special ownership structures, begin re-examining government support programs and tourism-related FDI policies, and liberalize visa policies for all tourism-related travel.” 

Between 2038 and 2050, the focus should be on institutionalizing globally competitive tourism-investment frameworks and introduce bold that will align the Philippines with top FDI destinations. 

“(We should also upscale) destination-management institutions, as well as formalize tourism zoning, sustainability incentives, and fiscal support nationwide,” Leechiu said. 

Domestic players have so far invested some P250 billion to establish 158 new hotels, adding over 40,000 new keys. Leechiu said this represents “the largest injection of hotel rooms.” LPC tracked the new investments going into new locations like Lapu-Lapu City in Cebu and Panglao Island in Bohol until 2030.

Total international visitor arrivals to the Philippines last year was 5.95 million, which represents just 4.7 percent of the 126.4 million total foreign visitors to Southeast Asia. It was also way off from the Department of Tourism’s own target of 7.7 million for the year.