A busy week in a difficult year for Manila’s hotels
This month, the area around the summit venue in Pasay City will look very different from usual.
Hotel lobbies will fill with delegations, and motorcades will move along closed-off roads. The Department of Tourism (DOT) expects more than 10,000 foreign delegates for the 49th ASEAN Summit and Related Summits.
For nearby hotels, that means a week of higher occupancy and spending.
This busy week arrives in a year when foreign travel to the Philippines has largely stalled. The summit will help Manila’s hotels. We are less sure the benefit will last beyond the week itself.
Arrivals up less than 1 percent
Our 3Q 2026 Philippine Property Market Report shows foreign tourist arrivals reaching 4.4 million from January to August, against 4.38 million in the same period of 2025. That is growth of less than 1 percent over eight months. Arrivals peaked at 12 percent growth in February.
After the Iran conflict closed the Strait of Hormuz and doubled jet fuel prices, higher airfares and flight cuts pulled them down every month from May to August.
The United States, still the top source market at 926,000 arrivals, grew by just 2 percent. We expect full-year arrivals to finish below 2025.
The mix of visitors has also changed. Arrivals from China nearly doubled to 303,000 after 14-day visa-free entry and new direct flights. South Korea, the second-largest market, fell 22 percent to 744,000.
The wider economy is also weak. GDP growth slowed to 2.3 percent in the second quarter, and inflation reached 7.2 percent in September.
What the summit brings
We see three gains for the capital. Hotels near the venue will run at higher occupancy, and restaurants, transport operators, and retailers will sell more. The Philippines also gains visibility as a destination for meetings, incentives, conventions, and exhibitions (MICE).
Official delegations are less sensitive to the higher airfares that have kept many leisure travelers at home this year.
Leaders of the 11 member states will be joined by ASEAN Plus Three and East Asia Summit partners, including U.S. President Donald Trump, whose attendance Malacañang has confirmed.
To prepare, the DOT had trained 244 tourism frontliners as of October 16 in diplomatic protocols and courtesies and in the Filipino Brand of Service Excellence standards.
The costs of hosting
Road closures have been announced around the venue in Pasay City, and the Civil Aeronautics Board has advised travelers of possible flight delays and rescheduling as safety measures take effect at NAIA.
Malacañang has also declared November 16 to 18 special non-working days in Metro Manila, which may thin out regular business travel even as delegate stays rise.
Cebu went through this during the May summit. Hotels in Lapu-Lapu City saw more bookings, but the local chamber of commerce said demand was “not as full blown as expected.” Summit weeks can displace regular guests as much as they bring in new ones.
Beyond the summit week
The larger opportunity is a year-round calendar of conventions and corporate meetings.
Our 1H 2026 Philippine Property Market Report found that Metro Manila’s corporate and MICE-driven demand held up through May despite inflation and the Iran conflict. Average hotel occupancy was 66 percent, slightly above last year’s 65 percent.
In my view, Pasay City is well placed to lead that effort. It has nearly 2,000 hotel rooms in its pipeline, according to our 2026 Accommodation Pipeline Report, produced with the Philippine Hotel Owners Association. NAIA, Mall of Asia, and Entertainment City are nearby, and the Philippine International Exhibition Center is expanding its MICE capacity.
Pasay could soon rank among the top five cities in the national hotel pipeline.
Winning more of these events will take more than new rooms and flight routes. Venues, hotels, and the government will need to bid for conventions together and make arriving at NAIA easier for business visitors. The DOT has trained 244 frontliners for this summit.
Extending that training to the hotels, venues, and transport operators that host future events would help turn first visits into repeat business.
One summit week will not offset a year of flat arrivals.
A fuller calendar of conventions and business events could. If the summit helps Manila win new routes and conventions, its hotels will keep benefiting after the delegates leave.
The author is the senior manager for Hotels, Tourism, and Leisure at Leechiu Property Consultants
