Gen Z leads the domestic travel boom as Pampanga tops Airbnb searches

Pampanga sees nearly 50% growth in Gen Z search interest as domestic tourism gains importance amid weaker international arrivals.

Gen Z Filipinos are leading the holiday travel boom, with Pampanga topping search interest as domestic travel continues to gain ground amid weaker international tourism spending.

Travel accommodation platform Airbnb reported that Gen Z search interest in local destinations rose nearly 25% over the past year. Younger travelers showed peak search activity on the platform during the holiday seasons of April to June and September to November.

Interest in Pampanga and Davao City rose the most this year among the Gen Z crowd, with both seeing nearly 50% growth in searches compared to 2025. Metro Manila, Baguio, and Tagaytay also saw greater interest from younger travelers, with each recording nearly 40% more searches than last year.

Younger travelers are also seeking out more beach destinations, as search interest in specific places such as Papaya Island in Nasugbu, Batangas (60%) and General Luna, Surigao del Norte (10%) also increased on the Airbnb platform.

But search interest only tells part of the story. Whether those searches translate into actual bookings, trips and tourism spending remains to be seen. Still, the trend offers a glimpse into where younger Filipinos may be looking to spend their holiday budgets.

“What we’re seeing is a growing appetite among Gen Z for domestic getaways, with familiar destinations gaining renewed interest alongside places that offer something new to discover,” said Amanpreet Bajaj, Airbnb Country Head for Southeast Asia and India.

Domestic tourism doing the heavy lifting

The stronger interest in domestic destinations comes as the tourism industry looks to make the most of Filipino travelers at a time when spending from foreign visitors has weakened.

The Philippine Tourism Satellite Accounts showed that domestic tourism expenditure reached ₱3.26 trillion in 2025, up 3% from the previous year. Outbound tourism expenditure posted the highest annual growth rate at 3.5%, amounting to ₱357.93 billion.

Inbound tourism expenditure, meanwhile, fell 6.4% to ₱698.46 billion in 2025 from ₱745.99 billion in 2024.

Tourism directly contributed 8.1% to the Philippine economy in 2025, while tourism industries employed an estimated 7.7 million people, or 15.7% of total employment. 

The Department of Tourism is pushing domestic travel to uplift local economies, particularly as the Philippines competes with neighboring destinations for international visitors.

The DoT set a target of 6.4 million tourist arrivals for 2026, but the Philippines has already fallen short of international arrival targets for two consecutive years. The country saw 5.9 million tourists in 2024 despite a target of 7.7 million. Arrivals fell to 5.6 million in 2025 against a higher target of 8.4 million.

Current flooding in Pampanga

The timing of Airbnb’s data is notable, however. Pampanga, which topped Gen Z search interest, is currently dealing with widespread flooding that has affected communities and disrupted transportation in parts of the province. 

That makes the distinction between search interest and actual travel even more relevant. Weather conditions, road accessibility and the situation at individual destinations could all influence whether people who are searching for Pampanga eventually make the trip.

For the broader tourism industry, though, the growing interest in local destinations points to the size of the domestic market, where Filipino travelers are already spending trillions of pesos across accommodation, transport, food, attractions and other tourism-related services.

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