Tourist arrivals to Bohol plunged 59 percent in the first quarter of 2026, official data showed, deepening concerns over the province’s economic recovery and how effectively public funds are being spent.
The province logged 170,016 tourist arrivals between January 2026 and March 2026, down from 417,142 a year earlier, according to figures from the Department of Economy, Planning and Development — a drop of more than 247,000 visitors.
Domestic arrivals fell 73 percent while foreign visitor numbers dropped 40 percent, with overseas Filipino arrivals also down sharply, the data showed.
The decline was far steeper than in neighbouring Cebu, which recorded a six percent drop over the same period, despite Bohol and Cebu jointly hosting a string of high-profile ASEAN gatherings in the first quarter, including a foreign ministers’ retreat, a tourism forum and a travel exchange event.
Regional planners blamed the downturn on rising fuel and airfare costs, geopolitical uncertainty, growing competition from rival destinations, shifting travel patterns and environmental pressures, while noting that tourism data collection remained incomplete in some areas.
The Bohol Provincial Tourism Council said surging travel costs and disruptions to Middle East flight routes had weighed on bookings.
PTC noted the province had weathered previous shocks, including the 2013 earthquake, powerful storms and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Provincial authorities have moved to diversify their tourism offerings, promoting geotourism, gastronomy, heritage and arts trails and community-based tourism, and have enacted a Sustainable Tourism Development Code.
Virgin Island reopened this year after a two-year closure.
In July, the Department of Science and Technology and Bohol Island State University launched “Laag Bohol,” a digital platform intended to connect tourists with vetted guides, operators and transport providers.
Separately, spending data complicate claims that overall budget execution in the province has slowed.
Bohol’s second-quarter statement of receipts and expenditures showed current operating expenditures of P977.47 million pesos, more than double the P441.92 million pesos recorded in the same period of 2025.
However, a separate report on the use of the province’s 20-percent national tax allotment development fund showed many projects still in early stages, with social-development projects only 1.77 percent complete and economic-development projects 1.60 percent complete as of the second quarter, with several still undergoing procurement or design approval.
Bohol has nonetheless continued to receive national recognition for governance.
The province and all 47 municipalities, along with Tagbilaran City, posted a 100-percent passing rate in the 2025 Good Financial Housekeeping assessment, the Department of the Interior and Local Government said.
Bohol also won a 2025 SubayBAYANI award for governance and transparency and was named among the country’s top finalists for infrastructure governance.
Authorities have launched an anti-scam campaign, “Turista iWAS Scam,” after nearly 200 tourism-related scam cases in Bohol and Cebu resulted in estimated losses of about one million pesos.
Bohol, home to an international airport and a UNESCO Global Geopark designation, remains one of the country’s major tourist draws.
Central Visayas, which includes Bohol and Cebu, attracted an estimated 31.5 million international arrivals between 2000 and 2024, the highest of any Philippine region, according to a study by the Philippine Institute for Development Studies.
Analysts said the coming months would test whether the province’s tourism slump proves temporary or signals a deeper need to overhaul its economic and development strategy.