The Philippine economy performed well in 2023 despite external challenges, the Marcos administration asserts, crediting this to its business-friendly measures, continued public spending, and the President's foreign trips where he promoted the country as an attractive investment destination.

However, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has received criticism for his frequent international trips, which some people felt were excessive, among them to Switzerland where he traveled with a sizable entourage. Also raising eyebrows was his quick trip to Singapore to attend the Formula One or F1 Grand Prix.

In addition, for his local and foreign travels next year P1.408 billion has been set aside under Republic Act 11975 or the General Appropriations Act of 2024, an amount higher than the President's travel allowance of P893.57 million in 2023.

But administration officials aver that Marcos' trips have strengthened ties with other countries and bolstered the Philippines' business position, notwithstanding the criticism by certain groups and lawmakers who bewail the supposed excessive spending.

Marcos maintained his status as a jet-setting Chief Executive in 2023, traveling abroad almost twice as many times as he had the previous year.

He flew to the US, Saudi Arabia, China, Japan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and Switzerland in to meet with his counterparts on important matters, establish deeper ties, and secure millions of dollars in investment pledges.

The President has no doubts about the Philippines' ability to reap financial rewards as a result of his "revenge travel."

"The way I see it, you must look at it as RoI (return on investment). Do we bring something back, or do we not? For example, we came back from China with pledges of $22 billion. Let's say we get (an) actual $1 billion, we then recouped the expenses from the trip. That's the idea," said Marcos back in January following his trip to Beijing.