Palace has high hopes on #ItsMoreFunInThePhilippines

MANILA, Philippines – Malacanang downplayed criticisms about the effectiveness of the newly launched tourism campaign strategy, which carries the “It’s More Fun In The Philippines” tagline.

In a radio interview on Sunday, Jan. 8, 2012, Deputy Spokesperson Abigail Valte said that as far as the government is concerned, “the measure of how effective the slogan will be, will be in the numbers, in the figures, in the number of tourist arrivals that the country will have.”

She noted that while there have been suggestions to just revive “WOW Philippines,” the tagline did not generate the target numbers, as it did not resonate in markets in Europe and even in Japan, among others.

On Friday, Jan. 6, 2012, the tourism department unveiled its tourism tagline and logo for international and local campaigns.

The new strategy veers away from traditional, adjective- and superlative-based taglines. Instead, it is designed to primarily tap social media networks, which is cheaper to execute but has potential to be successful as Filipinos are adept at online platform.

#ItsMoreFunInThePhilippines and its local counterpart, #1infun, was trending on microblogging site Twitter on launch date.

Earlier, Rappler reported that President Aquino gave his own input on the logo. Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez said the president asked tourism officials and executives from BBDO Guerrero, the advertising agency behind the campaign strategy, to make the colors more vibrant. 

Based on public reaction online, Valte said it seems that “everybody is getting onboard; everybody is having fun with the slogan.

She also cited photos taken by ordinary citizens and posted on-line to support the new DOT catchphrase. These picture memes have been making the social media rounds in recent days.

“So it seems that the people are on board with, are staunchly behind the DOT. If we look at the reaction online, we Filipinos are really dominant. So it looks like it is being well-accepted; it is widely accepted by our people,” Valte said.

Amid terror threats and travel advisories, she stressed that the government is taking “all the measures to ensure the safety and protection not only of our citizens but those who visit us.”

“We say, ‘It’s more fun in the Philippines,’ and we really do take the measures to ensure that even our visitors are safe; are protected,” Valte said.

The tourism department is banking on the new strategy to attract more dollar-spending tourists to the country. The target is 4.2 million visitors at end-2012, and at least 10 million at end-2016.

The Philippines is one of the laggards in Asia in attracting tourists as neighbors have been more aggressive in marketing and reforming aviation policies. – Rappler.com