Anong tourism gem? Frasco’s leadership faces backlash for failing to meet 7.7M visitor target

It seems that many tourism stakeholders are not fully convinced of the “impact” that Department of Tourism (DOT) Secretary Christina Frasco has had on the sector.

This comes amid an outpouring of birthday greetings for the DOT head on social media from her employees.

Many pundits have reportedly questioned the impact Frasco has had on Philippine tourism, especially after she famously pinned hopes on boosting the number of Chinese tourists—a strategy that ultimately turned out to be a massive failure.

Critics also took issue with the birthday greeting, which claimed that Frasco had successfully promoted the Philippines as a global gem.

In reality, the country failed to meet its 7.7 million visitor target and was overtaken by ASEAN neighbors who attracted more tourists.