By Joyce Ann L. Rocamora | Philippine News Agency
The Department of Tourism (DOT) on Friday formally launched a new government platform for curated and discounted travel offerings in destinations across the Philippines.
The campaign, called “Discover More to Love,” features vetted deals by local hotels, tour operators, airlines, and other partners, including AirAsia MOVE, Klook, and Mastercard.
DOT Secretary Dita Angara-Mathay said the platform—now officially online—also serves as a tool for travelers looking for affordable travel options without falling victim to scams.
“The whole point is to give reliable information (to travelers). Kapag may nag-book at may nagreklamo, sisitahin namin ‘yong supplier,” she said on the sidelines of the Central Philippine Tourism Expo (CPTEx) at a mall in Sta. Rosa, Laguna.
Some of the offerings include discounted rates on staycations, wellness activities, flights, loyalty incentives, dining and attraction credits, among others.
The travel deals will be made available through the DOT’s newly improved www.tourism.gov.ph
Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed that domestic travel continues to fuel Philippine tourism growth, with expenditure reaching P3.26 trillion in 2025 and industry employment soaring to 7.7 million in the same year.
Internal tourism expenditure, or the total spending of tourism activities within a country’s borders, grew by 1.2% from P3.91 trillion in 2024 to P3.96 trillion in 2025.
Jonel Magdaraog, owner and general manager of The Bachelor Travel and Tours and one of the stakeholders present during the launch, agreed that domestic demand had been a strong driver of their bookings.
He shared that his agency’s domestic bookings alone went up by 30–40% after the pandemic.
“So, we’re really banking on domestic tourism,” he said in an interview.
No slogan change
Angara-Mathay, meanwhile, clarified that Discover More to Love is not a replacement for the “Love the Philippines” branding, but rather a complementary initiative to strengthen DOT’s efforts to promote domestic travel.
“Love the Philippines is still our national tourism brand. (Discover More to Love) is a domestic tourism campaign under that same brand, created to encourage Filipinos to explore more of our own country and discover even more reasons to love the Philippines,” she said.
Through the shared platform between the DOT and tourism stakeholders, she said the agency also hopes to help local businesses market their products and promote emerging destinations.
“This initiative supports our broader goal of encouraging year-round domestic travel. By helping Filipinos discover more opportunities to travel during off-peak periods, we can give travelers greater value and more enjoyable experiences while helping tourism enterprises maintain steady bookings, sustain jobs, and strengthen local economies throughout the year,” she said.
“This platform will continue to evolve—and we invite every Filipino to help shape it with us,” she added.
Discover More to Love is an iteration of the agency’s official Love the Philippines campaign, designed to entice more local tourists to travel across the country.
The DOT said it was an answer to the private sector’s clamor for a strengthened domestic tourism promotion campaign, especially during the soft season running from July to November 2026.
As of June 26, the DOT said more than 3,000 travel deals are offered by at least 70 firms that have so far participated in the initiative.
The DOT said other tourism businesses may still join the platform by contacting its office for vetting and eventual onboarding.
“This is not a project that the government builds behind closed doors and simply declares finished. We want to build it together with the Filipino traveling public and our tourism stakeholders,” Angara-Mathay said.
“We encourage everyone to explore it (platform), take advantage of the travel offers, and tell us what works, what doesn’t, and what features you’d like to see,” she added.
Veteran industry stakeholders, meanwhile, expressed support for the campaign, including the Hotel Sales and Marketing Association (HSMA), Tourism Congress of the Philippines (TCP), Philippine Hotel Owners Association (PHOA), and Philippine Tour Operators Association (PHILTOA), to name a few.
“For so long, we have been talking about this, and we appreciate it. Why? Because we can only work as a hotel operator, accommodation sector. But we don’t hold airline connectivity. We don’t handle tours, et cetera. But having this kind of structured campaign will really bring everyone closer together,” said HSMA president Loleth So.
PHILTOA president Malou Japson, for her part, described the campaign as a “timely and important step in strengthening how the Philippines is positioned in the international market.”
“In inbound tourism, alignment is a key–how the country is promoted must match what is delivered on the ground,” she said.
“PHILTOA commends the Department of Tourism for strengthening its direction toward more digital, consistent, and experience-driven marketing. This helps improve competitiveness and keeps the Philippines more visible and relevant in key source markets,” she added.
The DOT gathered the tourism groups on June 23 to solidify the campaign’s success, and at the same time, solicit inputs from them.
Also present during the meeting were the heads and representatives from Philippine Travel Agencies Association, Inc. (PTAA), Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Philippines Chapter, National Association of Independent Travel Agencies (NAITAS), Global Tourism Business Association, Inc., (GTBA) Robinsons Hotels and Resorts, Cebu Pacific, AirAsia, Sunlight Air, Mastercard, VISA, and BYD Philippines.
