A tour guide in Lubuagan, Kalinga is about to show up in the search results of a group of friends from Manila. A backpacking couple from Canada just booked several nights at a remote bed and breakfast in Guimaras. These scenarios are what the Department of Tourism (DOT) and Klook are betting as they renewed their partnership on highlighting local tourism.
DOT and leading online booking platform Klook signed a multi-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on September 1 in Makati City, extending a collaboration that has run for several years under campaigns “Love the Philippines” and “Discover More to Love.”
The renewal encompasses joint marketing, curated experiences, digital onboarding for tourism businesses.
Getting discovered and booked
Klook is not just a booking engine. It is also, as DOT Secretary Dita Angara-Mathay put it at the signing, a record of intent.
“Klook offers more than 490,000 activities across 1,000 destinations worldwide. That gives us a significant platform through which we can bring more Philippine experiences to a much wider market,” she said, adding that the platform’s real value lies in what it reveals about what travelers are actually searching for, not just where they end up.
DOT and Klook are set to continue advancing digital adoption among local tourism businesses across the country through the tourism bureau’s regional offices, helping them get discovered and booked online. The program shall train MSMEs on how to tailor their offerings to cater tourist demands and interest.
This drive also eyes to highlight off-the-beaten destinations in the country, which the data show, are what interests majority of travelers.
Angara-Mathay cited new research from Klook showing that 76% of APEC travelers would visit a lesser-known city specifically for a unique local event, festival, or activity, a figure the department is treating as license to build beyond the country’s usual shortlist.
She named the Cordillera’s mountain communities, Panay’s heritage and festivals, Negros’ culinary identity, and Bukidnon’s agricultural traditions as the kind of destinations the partnership intends to develop next.
In the Philippines, Klook operates in over 150 cities with more than 10,000 local tourism partners on its platform, a number Klook Philippines General Manager Michelle Ho called out directly at the signing. “I’m very proud of those numbers,” she said.
“And I say them here today because they remind everyone that every booking is a story. A booking is a decision that someone has made, a trip they’ve saved for months, and the memories they were hoping to make.”
Beyond the beaches and into authentic experiences
Philippines’ tourism pitch has outgrown its own postcards. Angara-Mathay pointed to the country’s biodiversity, food, and “communities” as underused assets, framing the MOU’s next phase around gastronomy, heritage, and culture rather than another round of island photography.
Ho made a similar point from the traveler’s side. “You see it every single day on social media: yes, the beaches and the islands, but also the cities, the mountains, the food, and that bright, warm Filipino spirit,” she said, describing it as something “no algorithm can manufacture and no content can copy.”
That spirit is doing real work in this partnership’s messaging, but the mechanics behind it are more concrete: helping small operators digitize, get listed, and get found.
“Many of them already have wonderful products and stories to share,” Angara-Mathay said of the country’s tourism MSMEs. “What they often need is greater visibility, access to markets, and support in reaching more travelers.”
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