Hon. Christina Garcia Frasco

Secretary Ma. Esperanza Christina Garcia Frasco leads the Department of Tourism, tasked with the Marcos administration’s vision of transforming the Philippines into a tourism powerhouse in Asia. Prior to her appointment, she was elected to serve three terms as Mayor of Liloan in Cebu. Her transformational leadership focused on education, infrastructure, sustainability, livability, and innovation, resulting in Liloan being awarded Top Model Municipality in the Philippines, and receiving more than 40 good governance awards and citations from various award-giving bodies.

Secretary Frasco received the Presidential Lingkod Bayan Regional Award in 2021 and was ranked the Top Performing Mayor in Central Visayas. She was also the first woman President of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP) Cebu and served as LMP National Vice President. Prior to being elected Mayor in 2016, Secretary Frasco was a practicing lawyer in international arbitration and commercial litigation, and a law professor in international law.

President Ferdinand R Marcos, Jr. handpicked Secretary Frasco to lead the DOT in 2022. Significant institutional reforms have since been introduced to the tourism industry through the three-pronged strategy of Connectivity, Convenience, and Equality, focused on reintroducing the Philippines to the world upon the strength of its natural assets, culture and heritage, and multi-dimensional tourism offerings. Towards this thrust, “Love The Philippines’”, the country’s enhanced tourism branding has also been introduced to expand the country’s value proposition to highlight the Philippines’ many attributes.

Going beyond promotional efforts alone, Secretary Frasco has emphasized from the start the necessity of improving the essential pillars of tourism development in order to elevate the Philippines’ position as a preferred destination in Asia. Under the Marcos Administration’s National Tourism Development Plan 2023-2028, the DOT has seven objectives aimed at strengthening the tourism industry, namely: 1) the Improvement of Tourism Infrastructure and Accessibility, 2) Cohesive and Comprehensive Digitalization and Connectivity, 3) Enhancement of Overall Tourist Experience, 4) Equalization of Tourism Product and Development, 5) Diversification of Portfolio through Multidimensional Tourism, 6) Maximization of Domestic Tourism, and 7) Strengthening Tourism Governance through Close Collaboration with LGUs and Stakeholders.

To enhance the overall tourist experience, Secretary’s Frasco has initiated the Marcos Administration’s construction of 10 tourist rest areas (TRAs) across the Philippines, with 15 more rising in tourist destinations nationwide. The TRAs have a comfortable lounge, information center, clean restrooms, a pasalubong or souvenir center, and other convenient services for tourists. Introducing innovation to the urban tourism offerings of Metro Manila, the Philippines now has its very first Hop-On Hop-Off Bus Tours, providing tourists a convenient way to discover cities in Metro Manila. She also launched the Bisita, Be My Guest (BBMG) Program to incentivize Filipinos around the world to become tourism ambassadors for the country by inviting foreign visitors to travel to the Philippines, as well as the Philippine Experience: Heritage, Culture, and Arts Caravans, aimed at giving equal opportunities for tourism development and promotion to emerging and lesser known cities and municipalities, including Mindanao.

Aggressive efforts to improve policies on travel into the Philippines and other institutional improvements led the country to record 2.65 million arrivals in 2022, surpassing initial targets and generating over Php 1.87 Trillion in tourism revenues and employing over 5.35 Million Filipinos in tourism-related jobs. As of July 17, 2023, foreign visitor arrivals have breached the 3 million arrivals already surpassing the previous year. This translated to over PHP212 Billion in estimated tourism receipts from international visitors for the period of January to June 2023, a 502.02% increase from the same period last year.

Signaling the Asia Pacific’s confidence in the Philippine tourism, the Philippines, represented by Secretary Frasco, was recently elected Vice President of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) General Assembly, and Chairman of the Commission on East Asia and the Pacific, as well as Host of the UNWTO Joint Commission Meetings for East Asia and the Pacific and South Asia in 2024. Secretary Frasco continues the Marcos Administration’s efforts towards Philippine tourism’s transformation as Asia’s tourism powerhouse and a major economic pillar and driver of the country's post-pandemic recovery.