09/01/2026
A Day to Reflect on Why We Exist
I chose tourism as a career because I saw it not just as movement, but as leverage.
Before offering international destinations, my focus was home. Philippine islands first. I had traveled enough to know this with certainty: we still have some of the best beaches in the world. Not by marketing standards, but by soul. By color. By life.
That belief led me to Coron, where I met one of the most grounded leaders I know, someone fighting not for profit, but for the blue economy. It was there that tourism stopped being an industry to me and became a system. A system that, when done right, creates jobs for locals, sustains livelihoods, and teaches communities why protecting the environment is not a sacrifice but a shared gain.
Tourism, I realized, can educate without preaching. It can preserve without freezing places in time. It can give people reasons to protect what feeds them.
Fast forward to today, and the irony is hard to ignore. Traveling within our own country has become expensive. As much as I want Filipinos to explore their own land, many choose to travel abroad instead, often with the same or even a smaller budget. Environmental fees are collected. Entrance fees are collected. And yet, many destinations still cannot provide something as basic as a clean toilet.
This matters. Especially for women. Comfort, safety, and dignity are not luxuries when you travel. They are essentials. And when these are missing, it reflects a deeper issue: tourism revenue without thoughtful reinvestment.
There is so much more that tourism could be. So much more that I still want to do and continue doing.
I believe tourism is one of our strongest alternatives for economic growth, not through selling land, not through extracting natural resources, but through stewardship. Through experiences that generate income while keeping our ecosystems alive. Through communities that benefit not just today, but years from now.
If we choose to see tourism not as quick profit, but as long-term nation-building, it can become one of the most powerful tools we have. For the economy. For the environment. And for the people who call these places home. 🇵🇭