MANILA, 26 September 2025: The Philippines Department of Tourism plans to extend training and recruit more senior citizens as tour guides once the current group finishes their training, the Philippines News Agency reported earlier this week.
Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco met with the first batch of senior citizens on Wednesday, who are undergoing a seven-day training course. She confirmed to the national news agency that DOT intends to conduct more training for senior citizens to serve as guides.
PNA quoted the tourism chief saying: “This is the start of what we foresee will be an up-and-coming programme for our seniors”.
The Community Tour Guiding Seminar for Senior Citizens is the pilot programme established under the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the DOT and the National Commission of Senior Citizens on 21 May 2025.
The first batch of 30 seniors, aged 60 to 79, will complete a 56-hour training course by 2 October 2025.
Reflecting the DOT’s commitment to inclusive tourism, September is designated as “Tourism Month” in the Philippines, culminating in World Tourism Day, on 27 September, themed “Tourism and Sustainable Transformation”.
Programmes for senior citizens are among the key initiatives of the DOT through the Office of Special Concerns, which is tasked to address the needs of priority sectors in the country.
Meanwhile, 400 tour guides from Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao gathered for a one-day summit in Cebu City last week to recognise the positive role tour guides play in the nation’s tourism space through their exceptional storytelling and hospitality.
This first-ever summit adopted the theme “Love our Islands, Love our Stories,” and created a national platform for tour guides, industry stakeholders, and policymakers to converge, collaborate, and discuss the future of tour guiding in the Philippines.
Tourism Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco emphasised that upgrading tour guide service standards is essential to enhance tourist satisfaction, elevate the destination’s image, and ensure a consistently high-quality and professional tourism experience.
As of 31 August 2025, a total of 4,598 regional and community tour guides are accredited by the DOT. The largest concentration of DOT-accredited tour guides is in central Visayas, comprising 2,020 tour guides.
The DOT and the National Commission for Senior Citizens (NCSC) signed a historic Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) last May, a significant move to recognise the role senior citizens can play in adding value to the country’s tourism story.
(Source: PNA and DOT).
