Digital Governance and Tourism Promotion: An Exploratory Study of Social Media Strategies in Philippine Local Government Units

Tourism contributes to income growth, employment generation, and citizen’s quality of life. In the Philippines, local governments employ tourism promotion and development strategies, including social media and other online platforms, to maximize revenue growth. While digital platforms are integrated with promoting and developing local tourism, local governments still need to see their contribution to local revenue growth. The study evaluates digital platforms, such as social media accounts, websites, tourist inflows, and tourism-related revenue generation. Employing content analysis, the study collected data from 50 local government units from the 2023 Cities and Municipalities Competitiveness Index in the Philippines. An inventory of all social media and online platforms, the data on regional and inbound travelers, and local non-tax revenue collection of the 50 cities and municipalities were analyzed. The study’s findings reveal that local governments actively engage citizens via digital platforms for information dissemination, but they are yet to be fully maximized towards tourism promotion. Highly urbanized cities and first to fourth class municipalities showing high influx of tourists also reported high local revenue collection. Research findings provide insights into promoting local tourism by employing digital platforms and contributing to local revenue growth. The practical implications of the study are also discussed.