Philippine E-Journals

Farm Tourism in the Philippines Amid the Covid-19 Pandemic: Assessment Using the TOWS Analysis Approach

Princess M. Feliciano | Gener T. Cueno | Tania Marie P. Melo

Discipline: Education

 

Abstract:

This study examines the profiles of Department of Tourism (DOT) – accredited farm tourism owners and their enterprises in Cavite, providing one of the first empirical assessments of the finan-cial and operational impacts of the COVID–19 pandemic on this niche tourism sector. Using interviews with six farm owners and managers, the study analyzed demographic characteristics – sex, age, civil status, educational attainment, and primary occupation – as well as enterprise attributes such as business type, years of oper-ations, farm size, services offered, employee demographics, guest volume, and farm revenue. Descriptive statistics (frequency, mean, and percentage) were used in the analysis. Findings show a balanced gender distribution among owners, most of whom are married, have completed college, and engaged primarily in farming, with an average age of 55. More than half of the enterprises operate as corporations, have been in business for 10 years, and maintain an average farm size of 8 hectares. While pandemic restrictions limited operations to 30 percent capacity, the data reveal an overall increase in average revenue, suggesting adap-tive income-generation strategies and resilience within the sector. The positive change can be attributed to a stronger strategic focus on educational tourism services and emerging digital marketing ef-forts in spite of the industry restrictions. A SWOT analysis highlighted strengths such as favorable weather, diverse farm-based activities, and wide-open spaces. How-ever, limited marketing expertise appeared to be a weakness. Op-portunities include educational programs diversifying farm prod-ucts, while threats such as natural disasters (e.g., volcanic eruptions and typhoons) and competition from non-farm tourism enterprise persist. Additionally, financial constraints limit the ability of farm tourism sites to expand their services, although they are equipped to manage security, infrastructure, environmental protection, and service quality effectively. Guided by the simplified research ques-tion on the effect of the pandemic to the financial and operational resilience of farm tourism enterprises in Cavite and the TOWS in-formed strategies strengthening sustainability, this study under-scores key strategic directions, particularly the need to enhance dig-ital promotion and pursues educational services offerings to sup-port long term growth.