Herrera said that such budgetary decrease was "unwarranted" especially since DOT was still "chasing after" pre-pandemic levels in terms of tourism revenue. 

“I’m concerned with the decrease of the budget of the DOT, especially since as mentioned, P3.5 million visitors—while, of course it’s higher than last year–but it’s still far away from, our 2019 and pre-pandemic levels of 8.6 million tourists,” Bagong Henerasyon (BH) Partyl-ist Rep. Bernadette Herrera said during the budget briefing.