Industry News Updates - 21 November 2025

Tourism and Hospitality Industry News Updates brought to you by MY RANGGO for the week ending 21 November 2025.

Industry News Headlines:

Slow Food Festival Takes Place in Bacolod
New Beginnings For Iconic Boracay Bar
Content Creator Rallies Behind DOT
AirAsia Launches Cebu-Iloilo Flights
Boracay Hotels Unite Away From Local Electricity Provider
Chinese Tourists Switch Favor To Europe
Surge in OTA Phishing Scams
Booking.com Losing Lead On Expedia
Philippine DOT Partners with MZTC
Google Pay Launches in Philippines

Slow-Food Festival Takes Place in Bacolod

This week the Philippines hosted the first ever Terra Madre Asia and Pacific in Bacolod. The event started on November 19, and will run until November 23.

“From Soil to Sea: A Slow Food Journey Through Tastes and Traditions” was the central theme for this major international gathering of the Slow Food movement, which includes interviews, and presentations from many of the chefs recognized by the Michelin Guide in October 2025.

More than 2,000 delegates from 20+ Asia-Pacific regions are expected to attend, including farmers, fishermen, cooks, indigenous leaders, researchers, cultural advocates and Michelin-recognized chefs.

The aim of this five-day event is to celebrate the Asia-Pacific region’s rich biodiversity, and to co-create sustainable food systems rooted in tradition, fairness, and environmental care.

The Michelin-awarded chefs attending include:-

Josh Boutwood of two Michelin-Starred Helm (and Michelin-selected Test Kitchens Ember, and Juniper),

Michelin One Star Representatives:

Thirdy Dolatre and John Kevin Navoa of Hapag,
JP Cruz – Inato,
Aaron Isip – Kasa Palma,
Chef Jordy Navarra – Toyo Eatery,
Chef Chele Gonzalez and Chef Carlos Villaflor – Gallery by Chele,
Don Patrick Baldosano (Young Chef Awardee) – Linamnam

Michelin- Selected Representatives:

Tonyboy Escalante – Antonio’s
Angelo Comsti – Offbeat Bistro,
Stephan Duhesme – Metiz and Automat
Charles Montañez – Mamacita

Michelin – Bib Gourmand Representatives:

Chef Patrick Go – Your Local,
Tina Legarda of Kumba,
Miguel Moreno – Cabel and Palm Grill

The event was organized by Slow Food International in partnership with local and national government agencies, including the Department of Tourism and the Department of Agriculture.

New Beginnings For Iconic Boracay Bar

It’s the end of an era for Nigi Nigi Nu Noos “e” Nu Nu Noos, a Boracay White Beach bar and resort that has held strong for 36 years, all while retaining it’s island vibe.

Nigi Nigi’s, as it’s affectionally called by islanders and returning visitors, called “Last Orders” for the final time as its original location on November 15, 2025.

But the lease ending isn’t a Nigi Nigi ending. The owners, staff and some loyal customers picked up the interior decors, welcome sign and bar area and ceremoniously walked them down the beach path to the bars new location – right next to Nigi Nigi Too at Station 3.

Nigi Nigi’s iconic in-house band The Calamity Survival Band have followed to the new venue too. The band is made up of exceptional musicians and singers who stayed on the island during the Rehabilitation of Boracay, when the island was closed and work and income were lost for many tourism workers.

Hailing from different bands and island bars, the group found support from the owners of Nigi Nigi’s – and its island customers – and quickly formed a tight, fun and entertaining band that attracts old and new customers in to the bar.

Content Creator Rallies Behind Cebu

Content creator BecomingFilipino is using his Social Media platforms to encourage tourists not to cancel holidays or trips to Cebu.

Areas in and around Cebu were severely affected by a number of earthquakes back in October 2025. Both Kyle – the man behind Becoming Filipino – and the Phillippine Department of Tourism (DOT) are advising that the province and many of its tourism sites are open to visitors, accessible and are still beautiful.

“If you had a trip planned to Cebu… don’t fear taking that journey here. You can fly here, you can drive around here… you can definitely enjoy here! Cebu is still very much open. And very much a beautiful place to explore and interact!” BecomingFilipino

Kyle Jennermann, a Canadian-born vlogger and naturalized Filipino citizen, has become famous for documenting and promoting Filipino culture through his vlogs and social media content.

Kyle was one of the hosts in the recently released Netflix documentary series “1 in 7641”, and is a passionate advocate of the Philippines and its culture.

AirAsia Launches Cebu To Iloilo Flights

This week AirAsia joined Cebu Pacific and PAL in offering flights between Mactan-Cebu and Iloilo International Airport.

The 27 minute flight has one-way fares starting at P1,200 and will operate four times a week for now.

Boracay Hotels Unite To Step Away From Local Electricity Provider

Boracay businesses and residents have experienced electricity supply difficulties from local provider Akelco for over a decade.

Even after the rehabilitation of the island in 2018 – which saw hundreds of employees from other electricity companies brought in to assist Akelco in addressing infrastructure issues, including relocating poles and cables – the electricity supply to the island has remained unstable and expensive.

With only one electricity provider serving the island there were no viable alternatives available to Boracay businesses – until this week.

Discovery World Boracay, Ferra Premier, and Ferra Hotel & Garden Suites, Hue Hotels and Resorts, and The Lind Boracay this week announced they had formed the Philippines’ first ever retail-aggregated hotel group.

Known as the EVO Boracay Retail Aggregated Group, the hotel consortium have been able to pool their combined peak demand – which totals to around 1,360 kilowatts – and qualify for the Retail Aggregation Program (RAP).

RAP has a minimum threshold of 500kw’s and any business, or consortium of businesses, that qualify for RAP can then choose their preferred power supplier.

Which is exactly what the EVO Boracay Retail Aggregated Group have done. They recently signed a very competitive and sustainable power supply deal through EvoEnergi, a Retail Electricity Supplier (RES).

Global Industry News Updates

Chinese Tourists Switch Favor To Europe

The latest data from Trip.com shows that Chinese travelers have switched their destination preferences to Europe, partly in response to better flight routes that are now available to them, and more accessible visa options.

Trip.com’s data also shows that Chinese travelers are booking longer stays, and are seeking out emerging destinations over the more obvious tourist spots. With additional flight routes added, visits to Germany, Spain and Italy have increased by 70%, and trips to Iceland and Norway have also doubled.

Insights gained show:

Younger Chinese travelers tend to be driven by concerts and live event attractions held abroad
Older travelers book longer stays and spend three times the amount as younger travelers on their vacation
An increased use of Trip.com’s AI tools, for research and booking

Trip.com itself reports that its international OTA platform bookings have risen 60% YOY (year over year), and its inbound travel bookings have increased 100% YOY.

Trip.com credits much of its 200% YOY use growth to its TripGenie AI tool, saying that the tool has improved customer experience and operational efficiency in a period of robust travel demand.

Surge in OTA Phishing Scams

Travelers are being warned to be on their guard for phishing emails, texts or WhatsApp messages that appear to be from Booking.com or Expedia.

Nicknamed the “I Paid Twice” scam, scammers contact travelers, via email and WhatsApp, advising they need to reconfirm the payment details, to ‘hold’ their reservation. A link in the message either takes them to a fake Expedia or Booking.com webpage or a fake hotel webpage, created by the scammers, where they are prompted to resubmit their bank or card details.

This new level Phishing scam has been escalating since March 2025, according to Microsoft, and started within the hospitality industry itself, via ClickFix Phishing Campaigns.

These ClickFix campaigns have targeted the hospitality sector in North America, Oceania, South and Southeast Asia, and Northern, Southern, Eastern, and Western Europe, sending emails that impersonated OTA’s like Booking.com and Expedia.

The emails typically refer to the need to fix “errors’ in the extranet, or they direct hoteliers to respond to “bad reviews” via a website link. Once on the fake page the hotelier is asked to complete a CAPTCHA verification, which is hiding malware. On completing the CAPTCHA the malware is launched.

“Once the malware has been delivered, it allows threat actors remote access, including control of the mouse and keyboard, data exfiltration, command execution, file uploads and downloads, keylogging, and webcam and microphone capture. Hackers are then able to steal admin credentials to gain access to booking platforms and send the aforementioned phishing emails to hotel guests—or they can sell the information to other cybercriminals.” LifeHacker.com

The scammers then use this access to email or send WhatsApp messages to travelers who have made a booking or reservation, advising there is either a problem with their payment, or that they need to verify their payment details to keep their reservation.

Types of ClickFix Phishing campaigns include:-

Use of fake CAPTCHA verifications to initiate a multi-stage PowerShell execution process, ultimately delivering infostealers such as Lumma and Vidar
Use of fake Google reCAPTCHA challenges by a threat actor dubbed Blind Eagle to deploy malware
Use of fake booking confirmation links to redirect users to CAPTCHA verification pages that lead to Lumma Stealer
Use of fake Windows-themed sites to redirect users to CAPTCHA verification pages that lead to Lumma Stealer

G DA T A, a German cybersecurity company, has identified a 2025 fake booking confirmation campaign that singled out victims in the Philippines and Germany.

Booking.com Losing Lead On Expedia

This week Hospitality Today Editor, Markus Busch, reported on how Expedia and Aibnb are challenging Booking.com’s OTA (Online Travel Agency) competitive lead.

In his article Busch highlighted how Airbnb’s move into Hotels and Experiences, and Expedia’s redevelopment with a focus on guest experience, loyalty and AI, are challenging the competitive advantages that Booking.com has previously held.

He notes that both Expedia and Airbnb have been quicker at deploying AI-driven ‘discovery features’ to improve guest acquisition, and that hoteliers may also no longer be prioritizing Booking.com as their essential channel for guest bookings.

MY RANGGO would add that many hoteliers in the Philippines, especially those managing small or independent hotels, have lost trust in Booking.com, as a result of the below minimum room rate bookings they have been receiving from the OTA since November 2024.

These hoteliers have been left unsatisfied by the response from its Customer Service Agents, when asked to investigate why the rooms have been sold below the minimum room rate set in the platform. As a result many advised, back in May 2025, they were even considering disconnecting the platform.

Busch doesn’t recommend shutting out Booking.com, or any other OTA platforms, but does advise that hotels should ready themselves for the increasing use, by customers, of AI Travel Assistants. He recommends hotels focus on improving the quality of their content, and on their direct sales channels.

Especially as OpenAI and Google are both rapidly implementing these AI-powered features. Google’s Gemini and Canvas in AI Mode already enable travelers to not just build their perfect itinerary and find the best deals, but also book and pay for their trip, all within Search.

“The advantage now belongs to hotels that understand the shift early — and adjust their channel strategy before the market forces them to.” – Markus Busch, Editor Hospitality Today.

Tech Industry News Updates

Philippine DOT Partners with MZTC

The Department of Tourism this week signed a Memorandum Of Agreement (MOA) with Millennial Zeal Technology Corporation (MZTC). The partnership aims to improve access to reliable technology and up-to-date tourism information, for the benefit of tourists, and those working in the industry.

MZTC, the official distributor for OPPO Philippines, will provide technology to twelve (12) Tourist Rest Areas, and help to deliver a DOT one-stop shop model, with real-time information, guidance and assistance through Tourism Information Desks.

In time, the partnership will also help to expand the coverage of the Philippine Experience Program (PEP). The PEP initiative aims to promote the rich culture, heritage, and arts of the Philippines with authentic cultural and sustainable tours and activities.