‘Site-specific’ tourism marketing

If the Department of Tourism, under Tourism Secretary Mon Jimenez, banked on the “It’s More Fun in the Philippines” slogan to “sell” the Philippines to the world’s tourists, the tagline, he says, is being tweaked a bit to make it more “site specific.”

After all, in the past year, the “Philippines” tag has taken quite a beating, what with the Zamboanga siege, the Bohol earthquake and Supertyphoon “Yolanda” (international name: Haiyan) wreaking devastation over a large swath of the country. “In previous times,” notes Jimenez, “this would have turned off a lot of tourists who would think of the country as one big disaster area.” But today, he notes, “the international travel trade is more savvy about travel in the Philippines,” with both tourists and travel companies aware that “the Philippine offerings are fundamentally intact.”

Indeed, at the Berlin international travel fair, Jimenez notes, the word “Philippines” was spelled out in the smallest type, with more prominence given to local destinations like Davao, Cebu, Baguio and, of course, Boracay. “Our competitors cannot catch up with us” in terms of natural attractions, he adds, “no other country in the region has more sites for tourists.”

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Indeed, even in Bohol, still recovering from the impact of the major earthquake that leveled almost all public buildings, including magnificent heritage structures like churches, “tourism activities on the ground are very much alive,” says the tourism secretary. Boholanos, he observes, “are even more touristic now,” with everyone aware of how they need to get involved and bring back the appeal of Bohol’s attractions which brought in much-needed revenue from tourists both local and foreign.

One local tourism official, says Jimenez, perhaps carried away by enthusiasm, even remarked to him that “now we have six Cagsawa ruins,” referring, of course, to the church ruins in Bicol buried under volcanic rubble more than a hundred years ago and a favorite tourist destination, and also to the ancient churches in Bohol felled by the temblor.

But every effort is being made to bring back Bohol’s churches to their old magnificence and historical significance, with no intention of leaving them in ruins, says Jimenez. P-Noy, he says, has just convened a “national heritage task force” to supervise the restoration of the historic churches and other structures laid to waste in Bohol and Eastern Visayas.

One prelate, shares the tourism chief, watching how personnel from the National Historical Commission painstakingly numbered each stone in the rubble of a devastated church, asked him why they couldn’t just build entirely new structures using the old stones. “Our mandate is to restore the churches,” he explained. “If you want a new church built, the Roman Catholic Church would have to spend for it.”

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“We are really not that far behind,” Jimenez assured the audience at the “Bulong Pulungan sa Sofitel.” Other countries may cite much higher tourism arrival figures, but that is because they employ other means and standards for  counting tourists, such as motorists who pass through one country to get to another for purposes other than tourism (attend business meetings, gas up on cheap gasoline), but who get counted just the same in the national tally.

One thing he could assure the Filipino public, Jimenez said, “by 2016 we would almost certainly have doubled our tourism numbers.”

A strategy the government is banking on, he added, is the opening of more airports or gateways in the prime tourism destinations, with the regional association of travel agencies estimating that in a few years “the Philippines and Indonesia will have the most international gateways in the region.”

Just two weeks ago, he added, there were rites marking the first international flight from Xiamen in China to Legazpi City in Albay; while in Kalibo, an hour’s drive to Caticlan, the jump-off point to Boracay, there are 16 direct flights from abroad daily.