OPINION: Stop gaslighting tourists into believing Bohol isn’t overpriced

That ₱1,650 pompano exposed Bohol’s bigger overpricing problem.

Boholanos defending the province over that viral ₱1,650 pompano are correct about one thing: one expensive fish does not define Bohol.

But neither should that argument be used to dismiss what tourists have been complaining about.

Boholano architect and digital creator Dodong Arambala pushed back against the viral complaint, arguing that Panglao offers choices—from luxury resorts and beachfront restaurants to carinderias, homestays and local eateries.

“A premium resort price cannot be treated as the standard price everywhere in Bohol,” he said.

True. But that misses how tourism actually works.

Tourists do not fly to Panglao to hunt for the nearest fast-food restaurant or leave the beach every mealtime looking for a carinderia. They go there precisely to experience the destination. Reasonably priced choices should exist where tourists actually are.

And going elsewhere costs money, too.

Complaints about Bohol are not limited to food. Tourists have also complained about transportation costs, particularly tricycles charging high fares even for short distances. Tell a family of five to simply find a cheaper restaurant and transportation can easily wipe out whatever they hoped to save.

This is why the ₱1,650 pompano matters.

Nobody is claiming every restaurant in Bohol sells fish at that price. But when complaints about expensive food, accommodations and transportation repeatedly surface, one fish can become symbolic of a much bigger problem: value for money.

This debate also comes as Bohol confronts an alarming number. Tourist arrivals reportedly plunged 59.3 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2026, from 417,142 to 170,016.

Arambala is right that correlation is not causation. Airfare, flight availability, seasonality, international conditions and even data collection must be considered. A viral pompano cannot scientifically explain a 59-percent decline.

But a decline that large should inspire introspection, not defensiveness.

Arambala himself acknowledges that Bohol needs better price transparency, transportation choices, service quality and value for money. That should be the heart of the conversation.

Because tourists have choices, too—not merely between a resort restaurant and a carinderia, but between Bohol and another destination entirely.

That is the competition Bohol faces.

So yes, one ₱1,650 pompano does not define Bohol.

But when that fish resonates with existing complaints about the cost of visiting the province, stop blaming tourists for talking about it.

Ask why so many of them recognize the problem.

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