Started as a private initiative to promote the Philippines as a major travel destination, the Philippine Tourist & Travel Association was organized in 1950.

In 1956, the Board of Travel and Tourist Industry was created by Congress as stipulated in the Integrated Reorganization Plan.

Included in the new Department of Tourism were the newly created Philippine Tourism Authority (PTA) and Philippine Convention Bureau (PCB).

In 1986, under Executive Orders 120 and 120-A signed by President Corazon Aquino, the Department of Tourism was reorganized and, correspondingly, the Convention Bureau was renamed the Philippine Convention and Visitors Corporation, and the Intramuros Administration was attached, previously being under the defunct Ministry of Human Settlements.

In 1998, the Department of Tourism assumed a prominent role in the culmination of centennial celebration of the country's independence from the Spanish Empire in 1898.