HONOLULU, Hawaii (The Adobo Chronicles, Honolulu Bureau) – The Philippines’ Secretary of Tourism, Christina Garcia-Frasco, is headed to Hawaii for an impossible mission: to ask the Aloha State to share its tourists with her country!

This, after Hawaii’s legislators allocated no funds for the state’s 25-year-old tourism office in the 2023-2024 budget bill. Earlier, lawmakers considered a couple of bills that would disband the Hawaii Tourism Authority and replace it with an agency that will focus less on marketing Hawaii to tourists and more on managing the state’s destinations and resources.

Garcia-Frasco told The Adobo Chronicles that the Philippines is a worthy and comparable tourist destination as Hawaii because of the country’s scenic and breath-taking natural sites including white beaches, underground rivers, waterfalls, awesome mountain views and English-speaking locals.

The tourism secretary will propose to give the State of Hawaii 10% of the Philippines’ revenue from tourism.

The Blue Lagoon in Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte in the Philippines will remind tourists of Honolulu’s Hanauma Bay (Photo by Rene Astudillo)