Filipinos should market PH to the world, says DOT chief

Filipinos should help promote and sell the Philippines in their own way to foreigners and their fellow countrymen to boost tourist arrivals in the country, Tourism Secretary Ramon R. Jimenez Jr. said yesterday.

In a press conference held at the Radisson Blu Hotel, Jimenez said the tourism industry is a “people-driven industry” that sells the total experience of visiting and staying in the country.

“We have all heard about the need for infrastructure to support tourism but really everyone needs infrastructure, even those countries already enjoying high tourism arrivals,” he said.

Jimenez cited the case of Mexico, which doesn’t have the same infrastructure as Canada but enjoys more tourist arrivals because it is “more exciting.”

“Mexico speaks more about happiness, enjoyment, fun. And that’s what really matters because that’s the reason people go to Mexico. We have that here as well,” he said.

Jimenez said the Philippines is already known to have warm, hospitable people who offers quality service.

The tourism chief said Filipinos should help create that feeling of warmth, positive experience to draw more tourists to their shores.

“We were once like Mexico whose positive self is larger than their negative self. We have to get that back and we can start by first talking good about our country especially in the social media like Facebook,” Jimenez said.

Campaign slogan

He said there is a Facebook fan page created seven weeks ago by a US-based Filipina called “Come Visit My Philippines,” which now has 28,000 fans and over 10,000 photos of the best destinations in the country.

“That’s only one Filipina who initiated that, how much more if all of the 27 million Filipinos on Facebook do that? We can use something positive for our tourism and it should start with the people,” Jimenez said.

Jimenez said a team of 12 people are reviewing proposals for the campaign from eight  advertising agencies.

He said they will come out with the slogan before the year ends.

A former advertising executive, Jimenez said Cebuanos can help promote the country as a whole and not just their province.

Impetus for change

He said they are targeting 10-million  tourist arrivals by 2016. For next year, Jimenez said they are targeting 4.2-million tourist arrivals in the country.

“If we create the demand and raise the target, we push other agencies to elevate their performance,” he said.

He said the planned improvements on the country’s international airports resulted from the demand created by the DOT and the stakeholders in the private sector.

“We have to provide the impetus for change so we have to target a bigger figure,” Jimenez said.

He said they expect to register 3.8-million tourist arrivals this year. South Korea remains the largest tourist group that visited the country followed by the US, Japan, China and Australia.

Cebu already registered an 11.33 percent hike in tourist arrivals, with 1.3 million visitors since January this year.