Over the past two weeks, the Philippines and other parts of Southeast Asia found themselves inundated by heavy rainfall and flooding.
While these are expected during the monsoon season, climate change has altered the intensity as well as the total damage caused in terms of both property and lives.
Just this week in the Philippines, a number of provinces needed to deal with significant flooding in low-lying or coastal areas, as well as overflow from major dams.
From a tourism perspective, it is easy to say that this will have little impact on the sector as we are now in the green or low traffic season; but if flooding and erosion continue to be major issues every year, the impact will also be felt at the height of the tourist season in a number of ways.
With the impact of climate change now manifesting in more extreme ways, how can the Philippines and other Asian nations impacted by worsening monsoons build up their tourism infrastructure for resilience?
Pushing the case for monsoon season travel
Admittedly, the monsoon season in Southeast Asia can be a trial for travellers: days of torrential downpour, destructive flooding, even forced evacuation of both humans and livestock.
But tourist guides like the Bemused Backpacker and Forbes actually recommend travelling during the wet season.
For one thing, there are less crowds to contend with, enabling travellers to have more meaningful experiences in the locations they choose to get into; for another, prices are more reasonable in terms of transportation and accommodations.
As the Bemused Backpacker puts it:
“[Nothing] is quite as spontaneous as seeing a street suddenly turn into a river or having to change your plans due to a sudden downpour. This is daily life for the locals, and for all those tourists who unthinkingly parrot the overused phrase ‘travel like a local’, well this is it! So what if it rains, drink up the experience and enjoy it, it is all part of the adventure!”
However, rainy-day travel in Southeast Asia does have a downside: the terrain can get dangerous; the potential for viral or bacterial illness is higher than usual; also, days of torrential rain can significantly hamper itineraries.
Mitigating issues
Moving forward, Southeast Asian tourism must pivot from high-volume coastal marketing to climate-resilient, diversified models if it seeks to maximise the pull of green season tourism on the global market.
Such a shift would entail season-specific cultural storytelling, decentralised rural and indoor attractions, as well as strict regional disaster-readiness frameworks to protect both local livelihoods and fragile ecosystems.
In which case, four strategic directions may be considered:
- Diversified tourism offerings Shift focus away from vulnerable beach and island itineraries toward indoor cultural heritage, culinary tourism, and inland eco-villages;
- A seasonal rebrand Market the monsoon explicitly as the vibrant Green Season by highlighting lush landscapes, full waterfalls, and fewer crowds;
- Integrate crisis preparedness Embed real-time climate tracking, upgraded regional transport contingencies, and robust worker safety nets into national tourism policies; and
- Enforce habitat-centric capacity limits This entails the implementation of temporary seasonal closures for fragile marine or mountain environments to allow natural ecological recovery.
