Some P4.63 billion in investments in the tourism industry have been registered with the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (Tieza) from January to August this year.
According to lawyer Karen Mae G. Sarinas-Baydo, assistant chief operating officer of Tieza, these investments are already 80.6 percent of the total registered investments in full-year 2025, which reached P5.74 billion.
She added that this year’s committed investments are projected to create 522 jobs, while last year’s total were supposed to create 1,039 jobs. Tieza, a government-owned and -controlled corporation, is the infrastructure arm of the Department of Tourism (DOT).
She told the BusinessMirror that these projects are ‘mainly hotels, but we do have wellness establishments, an events center, farm tourism sites, and recreational facilites as well.’
Also, she said, ‘Tieza is currently processing eight ongoing applications representing approximately P2.56 billion in proposed investments and 569 potential jobs.’
Investment promotion agency
Of the eight registered projects, ‘five with about P1.07 billion in proposed investments and 256 jobs, have target opening dates within 2026. The remaining three applications represent approximately P1.49 billion and 313 jobs, with opening dates in 2027,’ said Sarinas-Baydo.
Under recent tax reform laws, Tieza has been appointed as the premier tourism investment promotion agency of the government, and can grant tax-free privileges and income tax holidays to registered projects.
From 2021 to August 2026, Tieza registered 34 projects under the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) and CREATE to Maximize Opportunities for Reinvigorating the Economy (CREATE MORE) Acts, representing approximately P14.5 billion in committed investments and 2,826 committed jobs.
Projects registered in 2025 until August 2026 alone accounted for P10.37 billion, or about 71.5 percent of total registered investments since 2021, ‘underscoring the continued strength of tourism-related investment commitments in the last two years,’ said Sarinas-Baydo.
As this developed, a House legislator urged that a budget for Tieza be allocated next year, in the light of the impending removal of the travel tax, which funds vital tourism infrastructure projects.
Appeal for funds
‘I would just like to manifest for the budget of Tieza. I hope the honorable sponsor [of the DOT budget] can push for an additional budget for Tieza, even if it’s not the full amount because I believe infrastructure is really needed even more than branding funds to attract tourists,’ said APEC Partylist Rep. Sergio Dagooc.
The lawmaker made the appeal during the September 22 Plenary hearing on the proposed P5.5-billion budget of the DOT and its attached agencies under the National Expenditure Program (NEP) for 2027. Sorsogon First District Rep. Ma. Bernadette Escudero-Quirante was the sponsor of the DOT’s budget. (See, ‘DOT budget gets HOR backing,’ in the BusinessMirror, Sept. 9, 2026).
There is an ongoing P100-million eco-tourism project funded by Tieza in the Dinagat Islands from which Dagooc hails. The project, signed between the provincial government and Tieza in July, involves the construction of a boardwalk and related structures leading to watersports areas in the Gaas Inlet.
The House of Representatives has already passed a measure on the lifting of the travel tax, but the Senate has yet to pass its own version. While lawmakers earlier vowed they will get funding for Tieza projects under the General Appropriations Act next year, Tieza received zero allocation in the NEP 2027, imperiling multi-year projects.
Tourism officials and private stakeholders had already expressed serious concerns of the removal of the travel tax as it may disrupt many multi-year infrastructure projects. (See, ‘Tourism competitiveness at risk in travel tax junking,’ in the BusinessMirror, Feb. 23, 2026.)