The Philippines, is an archipelagic country located in Southeast Asia with Manila as its capital city. The Philippine archipelago comprises 7,107 islands in the western Pacific Ocean. Modern Filipino culture, though primarily Asian, has many more influences from the Western world than other nearby Asian cultures who have been able to retain more of their core Asian identity. Most of these influences are a product of previous colonization and derived mainly from the cultures of Spain and the United States, with a secondary influence from Latin American cultures who were under Spain during the same period the Philippines was. The influence from the United States being so strong that the Philippines continues to integrate newer American cultural influences into its culture even in this post-colonial period.

Tourism plays an important role in the Philippine economy. In the year 2000, net tourism income in the Philippine totaled to 2.1 billion U.S. dollars. Most of the foreign tourists came from the United States, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, New Zealand, and The Netherlands. There were also tourists coming from Taiwan, Australia, Great Britain, Germany, Canada, Israel, Russia, France and Singapore.