Despite a vigorous marketing blitz to attract foreign visitors in the country– both by the Department of Tourism and by President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos, Jr.’s promotional travels around the world, Manila – just two points shy from the world’s riskiest city, Caracas, Valenzuela – still suffers from the stigma in a rating done by the credible Forbes Advisor.
In the July 11 Forbes survey “Most Risky Cities for Tourists” https://www.forbes.com/advisor/travel-insurance/best-travel-insurance/#most-risky-cities-for-tourists . Forbes gave the following ranking: Caracas, Valenzuela (100); Karachi, Pakistan (93.12); Yangon, Myanmar (91.67); Lagos, Nigeria (91.54); Manila (91.49); Dhaka, Bangladesh (89.50); Bogota, Colombia (66.70); Cairo, Egypt (83.44); Mexico City, Mexico (82.43) and Quito, Ecuador (82.02).
Out of 60 countries surveyed, Manila was ranked 9 in crime risk (with 1 being the worst a rank given to Caracas, Valenzuela); slightly better in crime risk than Lagos Nigeria’s 5; Mexico City, Mexico’s 6; Bogota, Colombia’s 7– most of them known for their drug problems.
For personal security risk Manila’s rank was 5; health security risk 7; infrastructure security risk 9 and digital security risk 12.
Gov't response
The Department of Tourism (DOT) acknowledged the Forbes Advisor methodology but said “we understand its inherent limitations and potential oversight of the ongoing enhancements in peace and security in Manila.”
The agency cited its various partnerships with law-enforcement agencies and the Department of Interior and Local Government in securing the safety of travelers and the assignment of tourist police in Manila, Business Mirror reported.
DOT also has a Tourism Disaster Risk Reduction Management Operations Manual, which “offers detailed protocols for addressing emergencies and disasters,” a program “focusing on safeguarding women and children in the tourism industry,” and is “spearheading the establishment of “tourism first aid facilities” in key destinations across the country,” the paper continued.
Safest cities
On the safest cities, Forbes Advisor listed Singapore as the safest city for tourists, scoring 0 out of 100, followed by Tokyo (10.72 out of 100), and Toronto, Canada (13.6 out of 100). Forbes Advisor is a unit of the Forbes business magazine, and deals with personal finance topics, the report added.
“To determine which cities are the most (and least) risky for tourists, Forbes Advisor compared 60 international cities across the following seven metrics: Travel safety, accounting for 20 percent of overall score.
Data comes from the US Department of State, 2024.
This metric reflects country-level data; Crime risk (17 percent), which estimates the overall level of crime in each city (Numbeo, 2024); and Personal security risk (17 percent), which considers how at-risk citizens are from crime, violence, terrorist threats, natural disasters and economic vulnerabilities (The Economist, 2021),” Forbes said.
Forbes Advisor also measured: “Health security risk (17 percent of score), which reflects the level and quality of healthcare services and infrastructure in a city (The Economist, 2021); Infrastructure security risk (10 percent), which reflects the availability and quality of city infrastructure and its vulnerability to man-made and natural disasters (The Economist, 2021); Natural disaster risk (10 percent), which reflects exposure and vulnerability to natural disasters (The World Risk Report of Ruhr University Bochum, 2023); and Digital security risk (9 percent), reflects the ability of citizens to freely use the internet without fear of privacy violations, identity theft and online attacks (The Economist, 2021).”
As of May 16, the US State Department placed the Philippines at Level 2 alert, which advises travelers to “Exercise increased caution due to crime, terrorism, civil unrest, and kidnapping,” and is just a notch below Level 1 (“Exercise normal precautions”).
The higher travel alerts, 3 and 4, have been updated and issued for certain areas in Mindanao, including the Sulu Archipelago.
Citing sources in the tourism sector that have long pointed out that foreign tourists no longer base their travel decisions on advisories from the US government and that of other countries, but recently on social media and recommendations by their own friends and families, Business Mirror noted.
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