By Justine Irish D. Tabile, Reporter

THE TOURISM Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA) said it has secured P192.3 million worth of investments so far this year.

“For 2025, we have secured P192 million. That is January to this date,” TIEZA Chief Operating Officer Mark T. Lapid told BusinessWorld on the sidelines of the agency’s Partners and Stakeholders Appreciation Night on Monday.

Compared to last year, Mr. Lapid said the TIEZA’s aggressive information drive has been key in attracting more investments.

“We have more this year because we are being aggressive on the information drive even with the market sounding and the missions that we do with different local stakeholders in different areas.”

“If you look at it, we are still a new investment promotion agency. That’s why we are very happy that there are more investors applying and trying to get accredited with us,” he added.

Since 2021, TIEZA has secured investment commitments worth P225.7 billion, which are expected to generate 131,805 jobs.

“These figures underscore the growing confidence of investors in the Philippine tourism sector and affirm TIEZA’s continued role as the key investment promotion agency (IPA) in driving high-impact tourism investments nationwide through our expanding portfolio of registered business enterprises (RBEs),” Mr. Lapid said.

On Monday, TIEZA welcomed seven registered business enterprises to its portfolio. These are Bukid Amara Davao, Fairfield by Marriott Cebu Mactan, Anjo World Conference Center, Avignon Clinic, Flow State Bouldering, Belo Medical Group – Greenhills, and Reside Siargao.

These tourism-related ventures span accommodations and meetings, incentive travel, convention and exhibition facilities, health and wellness, farm tourism, sports facilities, and recreational centers.

“Their entry into the TIEZA registry is expected to generate employment and stimulate local economies and attract fresh investments to their respective communities,” TIEZA said.

Aside from the agency’s information drive, Mr. Lapid said the increased investments are also being driven by the enactment of the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises to Maximize Opportunities for Reinvigorating the Economy (CREATE MORE) Act.

“With CREATE MORE, the playing field became level among different investment promotion agencies like the Philippine Economic Zone Authority and the Board of Investments,” he said.

“And of course, we have infrastructure support in our mandate that will help our investors, so it is better in encouraging our campaign for investment in tourism,” he added.

Asked about what he wants to hear from President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. in his State of the Nation Address next week, Mr. Lapid said he hoped TIEZA would be recognized for its efforts to digitalize the collection of travel tax.

“On Thursday, we will have a memorandum of agreement signing with the Department of Information and Communications Technology for the integration of travel tax in the eGov app so that the access to travel tax will be faster,” he added.

In 2024, Mr. Lapid said travel tax collections reached P7.8 billion, which is at par with collections in 2019.

“We’re two years early from the projection that was given to us to recover by the United Nations World Tourism Organization,” he said.

“So, our recovery program is quite good, showing a strong recovery and renewed public confidence in travel,” he added.

Half of the travel tax collections goes to TIEZA, while 40% goes to the Commission on Higher Education, and 10% goes to the National Commission for Culture and the Arts.