The Visa Outsourcing firm projects that foreign visa applications will increase by 7 percent by 2026
VFS Global, a visa issuing and technology company, said on Tuesday that visa applications from the Philippines are expected to grow by 5% to 7% year-on-year through 2026, as traveler confidence continues to improve.
“Given the current state of the country … we still see the application numbers in line with what we predicted, which is still slightly higher than the year 2025,” VFS Global Regional Head for North Asia Atul Lall told reporters in an interview.
“We hope to see growth of at least 5% to 7% going forward,” he added.
Data from the company showed that the volume of visa applications from Filipino travelers increased by 8% in 2025 compared to the previous year.
The company also noted the growing demand for personalized visa application services in the country as its Visa At Your Doorstep (VAYD) service showed a year-on-year growth of 62%.
With the door-to-door visa service, applicants can complete their application process from the comfort of their homes or places of their choice.
The countries offered in this service are Australia, Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Japan, Malta, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Slovenia, Switzerland, Türkiye, United Kingdom, and the Netherlands.
According to UN Tourism, if the Asia-Pacific region recovers its tourist levels in 2019, global economic conditions remain favorable, and international conflicts do not increase, international tourism could increase by 3% to 4% in 2026.
The Asia-Pacific region grew by 6% last year but remains 9% below its 2019 level.
“When the world started to open up, I think there was a lot of revenge travel, so there was a big increase between 2021 and 2023, but still, the numbers for 2019 were higher than 2023,” Mr Lall said. “2024 had a slight increase, but not dramatic.”
PHL travel styles
While popular destinations among Filipino travelers are Australia, Canada, Germany, Greece, Japan, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom, the firm sees a high demand for short-haul travel.
“It’s a very long journey that we see prices going up, when there is a lot of travel happening,” said Mr. Lall.
Like other travelers around the world, Filipinos explore overseas destinations for relaxation and quality time with loved ones.
“I think the reasons for traveling are usually vacation, family, or new places. So I think those will never change, those will remain the same,” said the firm’s regional head.
“The willingness to move has been there and has always been there and will be there, that’s why our business needs the kind of momentum we’re talking about,” he added.
VFS Global serves 33 sovereign governments, including Australia, Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan, and New Zealand, among others, through 61 visa application centers in eight cities nationwide. – Almira Louise S. Martinez
