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.
Lawyer Karen Mae G. Sarinas-Baydo, assistant chief operating officer of Tieza, said 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.
In addition, Sarinas-Baydo said, ‘Tieza is currently processing eight ongoing applications representing approximately P2.56 billion in proposed investments and 569 potential jobs.’
She added that 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.’
Under recent tax reform laws, Tieza has been apppointed 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 CREATE [Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises] and CREATE MORE [CREATE to Maximize Opportunities for Reinvigorating the Economy] Acts, representing approximately P14.5 billion in committed investments and 2,826 committed jobs,’ she noted.
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,’ she said.
As this developed, some members of the House of Representatives urged that a budget for Tieza be allocated next year, in the light of the impending removal of the travel tax, which funds the government firm’s operations and infrastructure projects. 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.
Appeal for 2027 funds
‘I WOULD just like to manifest for the budget of Tieza. I hope the honorable sponsor [of the Department of Tourism 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 Party-list Rep. Sergio Dagooc of Apec.
The lawmaker made the appeal during last week’s plenary hearing on the proposed P5.5-billion budget of the DOT and its attached agencies under the National Expenditure Program for 2027. SorsogonRep. 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.
While lawmakers who had backed the removal of the travel tax earlier vowed they will get funding for Tieza projects under the General Appropriations Act next year, the government firm received zero allocation in the NEP 2027.
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.)