US-Based Travel Agencies Commit To Promote Philippine Tourism

HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA - The Philippine Department of Tourism (PDOT) in Los Angeles has recently conducted a tourism networking event to further entice American tourists, including our kababayans, to visit the Philippines.

The gathering was attended by the officials of the Philippine Consulate General of Los Angeles (PCGLA), representatives from local travel agencies, community leaders, and organizers and winners of the recently-concluded Miss and Mister Philippines USA 2025.

During the networking event at the Dave and Buster’s in Hollywood, PCGLA Consul General Adelio Cruz announced the consulate’s invitational golf-for-a cause tournament “2025 Congen Cup” which will be co-sponsored by PCGLA and Love to Serve, Inc. (LTSI), veteran-owned non-profit organization which offers various programs including digital literacy and computer access to support underserved communities.

The golf tournament will be held on October 6, 2025 (Monday), 7am, at the Los Coyotes Club in Buena Park, California.

The event will include group photo taking, shotgun start of 144 golfers in the morning. At 4pm, it will have the awarding, dinner and raffles and happy hour. A Hole-in-One cash prize is at stake which will be divided between the winner and the LTSI.

Part of the proceeds from the golf event will go to ASEAN Women’s Circle of Los Angeles to help victims of Myanmar Earthquake; GRACES (Golden Recention and Action Center for the Elderly and other Special Cases) to give assistance to abandoned, sick and needy senior citizens in the Philippines; Support LTSI a program to give free computers to less fortunate students in the Philippines; and Pinoy Basilica San Pedro Bautista in Quezon City.

Cruz also invited Filipinos and American tourists to join the 2026 VIP (Very Important Pinoy) Tour in July next year which will highlight the beautiful places of Cebu and Dumaguete, Bohol and Siquijor.

The PCGLA official said they are targeting to bring at least 250 tourists from their jurisdiction alone.

According to Cruz, Philippine Airlines, the country’s flag carrier, will continue to support the VIP Tour program by giving out discounted fare rates.

“We have some 1.4 million Filipinos in California alone. Los Angeles has the largest number of Filipino Americans under our jurisdiction.We need your support specially the young ones and the young once. Please help spread the word, if you have friends, fellow Filipinos, encourage them to visit, reintroduce themselves to our culture and heritage and explore the beauty of the Philippines,” Cruz said.

Other local travel agents also offered their special tour packages for the Philippines’ tourists. These are: GTT International/E-World Tours which discussed their Golf Tour Product; Skybird Travel (Sky Vacation’s The Philippines: Discover the Unexpected” Product); and Mango Tours (Special Tour Packages).

Fr. Albert Avenido of the Sacred Heart Catholic Church of West Covina also pitched in to promote the Philippines as a pilgrimage destination.

PDOT Tourism Attache/Director Southwestern States-Hawaii & Latin America Gerard Panga, for his part, said they have also lined up a number of attractive tourism programs which will underline the Philippines’ unique tourists’ attractions

“The Philippines is the leading destination for the Americans going to Southeast Asia that is because we have a strong presence of our overseas Filipinos market here, 4.4 million Filipinos. Imagine, if each one of you will be a positive force to promote the Philippines. He also encouraged the young Filipinos to look back and help in uplifting the lives of fellow Filipinos by making the Philippine economy much better through tourism,” he said.

“If you go there, every visitor you produce to the Philippines, even when you travel yourself, you’re not only a visitor but actually for us you are a valued economic partner. You know why because every visitor to our country helps continue to our massive job generation and more livelihood opportunities to our kababayans back home,” Panga said.

“More than 6 million jobs and $13 billion in foreign visitors’ expenditures, that’s the trade or travel component/income for us selling to the US. We are doing well here. So we hope you could be part of our party of believers and by now you should know, there is one country that we love the most and we say “LovethePhilippines,” he added. Based on 2024 data, US is also the biggest source of OFW remittances (40.6% market share), followed by Singapore (7%) and Saudi Arabia (6%).

Panga also quoted a recent study which noted that the Philippines continues to be the text messaging capital of the world with 400 million texts daily. "Filipinos are also one of the most active internet users in the world: #1 in watching online content and in using mobile phones for internet at 5 hours and 21 minutes (vs. global average of 3 hours and 46 minutes).

"Wish we could channel more this massive Pinoy online presence to help promote out Philippine Tourism to the global audience..our unique culture, friendly and service-oriented people, and myriad attractions and value-for-money experiences spread throughout our 7,641 islands," Panga earlier said, in his Facebook post.

The LA-based tourism official also urged all Filipinos to avoid spreading fake news, negative contents, toxic politics and distorted biases, which put our country in bad light.

Panga, on the other hand, noted that there are also ongoing PDOT initiatives to intensify efforts to promote the Philippines as a prime golf, surfing and diving destination.

Coinciding the networking event, the PDOT, PCGLA officials and guests had the chance to take part in the successful launch and photo-taking opportunity of the “Love the Philippines” Bus Wrap Advertisement along the street of Hollywood.

The “LovethePhilippines” ad bus promo, which had cruised through the routes of Hollywood, The Grove and Santa Monica Beach, ended Monday, September 1, 2025.

Photos by Joe Cobilla Jr, TFCN North America