Tourism's share to PH economy shrank to 8.1% in 2025 — PSA

Tourism’s share to the Philippine economy, as measured by gross domestic product (GDP), contracted in 2025 as weaker spending by foreign visitors dragged the sector despite higher domestic travel expenditures and stronger tourism-related employment.

Data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed that the Tourism Direct Gross Value Added (TDGVA) to GDP stood at 8.1% last year, lower than the tourism sector’s 8.7% share to economy in 2024.

The TDGVA refers to the part of gross value added generated by all industries of the economy that directly provide goods and services to visitors.

In peso terms, the TDVGA amounted to P2.27 trillion in 2025, down 1.4% from P2.30 trillion year-on-year.

The PSA said that among the forms of tourism expenditures, outbound tourism expenditure posted the highest annual growth of 3.5% to P357.93 billion in 2025.

This was followed by domestic tourism expenditure which grew by 3%, from P3.16 trillion in 2024 to P3.26 trillion in 2025.

However, inbound tourism expenditure posted a decline of 6.4%, from P745.99 billion in 2024 to P698.46 billion in 2025.

Meanwhile, internal tourism expenditure —comprising inbound and domestic tourism expenditures— grew by 1.2% from P3.91 trillion in 2024 to P3.96 trillion in 2025.

Tourism expenditures include accommodation services, food and beverage serving services, transport services, travel agencies and other reservation services, entertainment and recreation services, country-specific tourism characteristic goods (shopping), and country-specific tourism characteristic services (miscellaneous), according to the PSA.

On the other hand, employment in tourism industries, or the number of persons working in all industries identified in the updated Philippine Tourism Statistical Classification System (PTSCS), was estimated at 7.70 million persons in 2025, up 2.5% compared with the 7.51 million persons employed in tourism industries in 2024.

The share of employment in all tourism industries to the total employment in the country stood at 15.7% in 2025, the PSA said. — RSJ, GMA News