MANILA, PHILIPPINES — The Philippines continues to be recognized as one of Asia’s best country destinations for tourism as it competes for at least seven accolades at the World Travel Awards (WTA) 2024.
This year, the country is nominated as Asia’s Leading Beach Destination, Asia’s Leading Dive Destination, and Asia’s Leading Island Destination. The historic Walled City of Intramuros is nominated again as Asia’s Leading Tourist Attraction, while Boracay is nominated as Asia’s Leading Luxury Island Destination, and Cebu as Asia’s Leading Wedding Destination.
The Department of Tourism (DOT) is 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,” stated Tourism Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco.
“While winning these accolades adds prestige to our endeavors, they 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.
Secretary Frasco noted that 2023 has been a banner year for The Philippines with the country clinching the World’s Leading Dive Destination for the fifth year since 2019. Last year, the Philippine capital, 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.
Voting for the WTA is open until July 28, 2024, through the official website here.
