The Philippine government, through the Department of Tourism (DOT), is allocating a total of PHP15 million to fund three outstanding tourism start-up projects from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao under its 2025 Tourism Start-Up Challenge.
In an announcement made yesterday, 24th September, tourism secretary Christina Frasco declared that each winning proposal will receive PHP5 million for project implementation.
The project is in partnership with the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA).
Frasco said: “To ensure that the benefits of the travel tax truly advance tourism education in the country as well as promote innovation, especially amongst our youth, we are proud to launch the Tourism Start-Up Challenge. Through this initiative, we empower students to bring forward bold ideas that can transform the future of Philippine tourism.”
Who can join the challenge?
School-formed groups consisting of four third-year or fourth-year college students of any course coached by one adviser may submit their proposal to the CHED regional offices until 31st October.
Proposals must be aligned with the National Tourism Development Plan and must include at least one of the six pillars of the grant’s priority areas:
- Facilities and Demo Labs in pre-existing facilities of the school/university
- Immersion and Career Development
- Technology Innovation and Digitalization
- Start-Up and Incubation Centers
- Research and Development
- Tourism Education & Education Tourism
All proposals will be shortlisted down to one proposal per region.
The 17 shortlisted proposals will then be given a grant of PHP250,000 to be downloaded to the respective higher education institutions, with only three sets to emerge as national winners.
