{"id":954122,"date":"2026-11-06T00:36:09","date_gmt":"2026-11-06T00:36:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/954122\/"},"modified":"2026-11-06T00:36:09","modified_gmt":"2026-11-06T00:36:09","slug":"philippines-targets-europeans-with-golf-gastronomy-and-mice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/954122\/","title":{"rendered":"Philippines targets Europeans with golf, gastronomy and MICE"},"content":{"rendered":"

European travel demand for the Philippines remains resilient despite higher airfares, rising fuel costs and disruption linked to the Middle East, according to Maria Margarita Nograles, chief operating officer of the Philippines Tourism Promotions Board (TPB)<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Numbers are indeed encouraging : international visitor arrivals in the Philippines reached 5 million as of Nov. 4, 2026, putting the country on track to meet its 6.4-million target and possibly post 3 % growth to about 6.7 million by year-end, highlights the Philippines Department of Tourism.<\/p>\n

Speaking with Travelmole at WTM London, Maria Margarita Nograles<\/a> told that the Philippines is indeed maintaining its ambition to outperform 2025 arrival figures while sharpening its focus on specialist tourism products, including golf, gastronomy and the MICE sector.<\/p>\n

How is the European market performing given high fuel prices, rising airfares and the continuing disruption in the Middle East?<\/p>\n

Maria Margarita Nograles: I recently put that question to our buyers, and they acknowledged that the current situation is quite challenging. However, they are still surprised by the number of groups looking to travel to the Philippines. Despite the difficulties with flights, including those affected by the Middle East situation, people are indeed still determined to travel. European demand is proving quite resilient.<\/p>\n

The UK and Germany remain our strongest markets. Both are among the Tourism Promotions Board\u2019s 13 key markets, and they continue to be particularly important for us.<\/p>\n

Have you revised your arrival targets or marketing plans in response to the current situation?<\/p>\n

Nograles: Our objective remains to outperform last year\u2019s figures. Despite everything happening globally, we are seeing better numbers this year compared with 2025.<\/p>\n

Our overall strategy remains unchanged, but we are looking more closely at specific tourism products and niche markets. We see opportunities to diversify our offer and target travelers with particular interests.<\/p>\n

Which specialist markets offer indeed the greatest potential?<\/p>\n

Nograles: Golf is a good example. I was quite surprised during WTM to speak with several golf promoters who described the Philippines as one of Asia\u2019s best golf destinations. I initially expected them to mention Thailand or Vietnam, but they highlighted the Philippines\u2019 beautiful golf courses and well-developed infrastructure for golf tourism.<\/p>\n

Another important advantage is that we are an English-speaking country. European golfers can communicate easily with caddies and other staff, who can guide them on everything from choosing clubs to improving their putting. That makes a real difference to the overall experience. Golf tourism shows that there are still significant opportunities to develop specialist tourism products.<\/p>\n

What about gastronomy? Can Filipino cuisine become another attraction for European travelers?<\/p>\n

Nograles: Absolutely. Filipino talent and creativity are world-class and we are particularly proud of the Philippines\u2019 growing international culinary recognition. The Michelin Guide recently announced additional restaurant selections in the country. I believe 27 new restaurants were added this year.<\/p>\n

We now have around 178 Michelin-recognized restaurants, including one two-star restaurant and approximately 10 one-star establishments. The Michelin Guide has in fact congratulated the Philippines on this achievement.<\/p>\n

Could Michelin recognition eventually extend beyond Manila and Cebu to destinations such as Palawan, Boracay or Bohol?<\/p>\n

Nograles: I do not think the Michelin expansion will reach much deeper into the islands immediately, but we are already seeing recognition beyond the main gateways. Clark, for example, has Michelin-recognized restaurants.<\/p>\n

I believe the guide could however expand further over the next few years. Destinations such as Boracay, Iloilo and Bacolod have talented chefs and an increasingly interesting restaurant scene. There is considerable culinary potential across our country.<\/p>\n

What will be the Philippines\u2019 main promotional priorities in 2027?<\/p>\n

Nograles: At the Tourism Promotions Board, we want to strengthen the MICE segment \u2013 meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions.<\/p>\n

It is a promising market because MICE travelers generally spend more and can help us reach a broader audience. It is also a specialist segment with considerable potential.<\/p>\n

I have attended several MICE events over the past few months and noticed that many participants had never previously visited the Philippines. They came because a conference or meeting was being held there. However, once they experienced the country, they fell in love with it and told us they would definitely return.<\/p>\n

That is why I believe MICE can be an effective strategy. It introduces the Philippines to new visitors, many of whom subsequently become leisure travelers. MICE will therefore be one of our main marketing targets next year as we see it as an important growth opportunity.<\/p>\n

Will the Philippines also be returning to ITB Berlin and other major international travel trade events?<\/p>\n

Nograles: Of course. We will continue participating in major international trade shows and meeting our partners, including at ITB Berlin and the ASEAN Tourism Forum.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"European travel demand for the Philippines remains resilient despite higher airfares, rising fuel costs and disruption linked to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":954123,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[566],"tags":[64,63,755,85],"class_list":["post-954122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-golf","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/954122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=954122"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/954122\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/954123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=954122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=954122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=954122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}