Philippines earns seven nominations at the 2024 World Travel Awards, solidifying its position as a top Asian tourism destination.
According to the Department of Tourism, the country this year is nominated as Asia’s Leading Beach Destination, Asia’s Leading Dive Destination, and Asia’s Leading Island Destination.
Also, the historic Walled City of Intramuros was again nominated as Asia’s Leading Tourist Attraction, while Boracay was nominated as Asia’s Leading Luxury Island Destination, and Cebu as Asia’s Leading Wedding Destination.
On the other hand, the DoT is also nominated again as Asia’s Leading Tourist Board.
"These nominations underscore the dedicated efforts of the Department of Tourism since the inception of the Marcos Administration. We express gratitude to WTA for providing The Philippines a platform to continuously showcase our diverse tourism offerings not only within Asia but on the global stage, but most importantly, we express our thanks to our tourism stakeholders who continue to safeguard the myriad of tourism gems in the Philippines for all the world to love and enjoy," said Tourism Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco.
She said that as winning these accolades adds prestige to our endeavors, the nominations also translate into livelihood opportunities for millions of Filipinos whose well-being depends on tourism.
“We aim to maintain and surpass the strides we've made since taking office, ensuring sustained growth in the country's tourism sector," she emphasized.
In 2023, the Philippines clinched the World’s Leading Dive Destination for the fifth year since 2019.
Also last year, Manila earned the accolade as the World’s Leading City Destination.
A Global Tourism Resilience award was also bagged by the country last year, a significant award about the “global leadership, pioneering vision, and innovation to overcome critical challenges and adversity,” and by other four countries who became recipients of the inaugural award from the WTA. It said that the awardees will serve as benchmarks for best practices in tourism resilience.
The Philippines was also named the Destination of the Year by online travel platform TripZilla as well as Asia’s Best Cruise Destination by the WTA.