Philippines needs to be better promoted as a holiday destination
Posted on September 26th, 2007 by blogoloco
It’s great to know that the Tourism Department is continually promoting our country as a tourist destination for all of us. This was evident on the Philippine Tourism video they produced a year go. I’m probably guilty of not being able to see much of the Philippines, particularly, the southern regions. But, I do my best each time I go home.
I strongly feel that the Philippines is poorly promoted as a holiday destination here in the UK. All this time, when they plan to travel in the Orient it’s either Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia or Hongkong. The UK website promoting our country is not enough without any publicity. As a matter of fact, the website itself could do with a bit of re-design. Rarely will you see a Philippine Catalogue in Travel Agencies here in England. I do help in little ways by showcasing some Philippine websites and my travel photos to my colleagues. They are probably doing something about it but it surely is not good enough. I did read in one Philippine UK newspaper that they promoted it in one agency but so unheard of, I can’t even remember the name, sorry.
Attention Philippine Department of Tourism in London. Surely, most if not all of the Filipinos here would be glad to give their opinions/advise if you need assistance. At the time of publishing this, I’m still awaiting response from the email sent to them a few days back.
Wow, look at those islands in the little flash header on the UK site, and the city in Manila.
Probably would never of seen it, if you didn’t put the links on here. =)
I completely agree! The Philippines is such a beautiful country. I have traveled to so many places (probably more than Malu Fernandez :D) and I just love the Philippines. In fact when I was on South Beach, Miami, I was so disappointed and pined for Boracay, El Nido and even Anilao!
Thanks for visiting Your Love Coach. Swing by again!
It’s true, when people think of travel in the oriental areas, not many think of the Philippines. I hope the email you sent has some sort of impact!
@Robbie - thanks for dropping by mate.
It does look great but overall i still feel the site needs a bit of improvement. But overall, they need to get in touch with most national travel agencies. This is probably a difficult a task and involves a lot of things to persuade them but hey thats their job isn’t it.
@Kaylee -Lovely of you todrop by.
I hope so. I’ll definitely publish it in the news section if I get any answer.
@joy - you’re welcome. Certainly, some of our resort are in equal competition if not more with other resorts worldwide and service is outstanding.
Why don’t we do something about it? Together with kiko! I’m scheduling a meeting with the Consul General at the Philippine Embassy. Maybe we can then chat with the Tourism staff as well. What do you say?
joy
I think that’s a great idea. I did send an email to them and i’m still awaiting a reply. Perhaps, it would be wiser to wait what they’ll say. I’ve not included a link to this post from the email i sent them. I’ll wait until next week and will send them another message.
I’m not sure whether Kiko shares the same concern.
Hmm… I never really thought of the Philippines as a vacationing spot. I mean I hear it’s beautiful, and the weather is nice. But, there are so many other places that are beautiful with nice weather.
Besides that, most pinoys I know don’t seem especially eager to go back, lol
Olivia, you are definitely missing a lot! The Philippines has 7,107 islands, with over 117 different languages and dialects. You want powder fine white sand with aqua blue water, we have them! You want temperate climes in the mountains, we have that, too. The people are so friendly and hospitable and service is the best you’ll find in the world. We’re also the third English speaking nation in the world - next to the US and the UK. This means navigating your way around the country wouldn’t be a problem. If you want pristine and unspoiled sanctuaries, just ask. Want to commune with the dolphins and the whales, you’ll have a blast there, too. We have the most number of coral reefs and scuba diving is definitely a must as well. If you’re into food, the diversity will make your taste buds spin!
About the Pinoys you said don’t want to go back. There could be a number of reasons. First on the list would be economic poverty, especially for people who didn’t grow up in the capital (Manila) and have always yearned a ‘better’ life for themselves and their families, well, they would rather be earning dollars or euros or pounds instead of toiling away in the Philippines. The other reason could be lack of faith in the Philippine government. Or it could be that they feel unsafe - especially if they left places that were political hot spots. Or that they’re running away from someone or something in their past.
But I think the most probable reason is ignorance or prejudice against their own country. I am Filipino and I am so proud to be one and I love my country. I can’t wait to relocate there. For now I content myself with going home twice a year, and learning as much as I can in the UK so that I can transfer the technology there in a few years’ time. I have traveled to so many different countries and now more than ever, I am truly glad to call the Philippines my home. I encourage you to see it for yourself. Come visit!
Sorry for the late comment. I really feel strong for this topic. Our government is really lacking its effort to promote our country to boost our tourism industry. We do have beautiful places that even our own kababayans have never heard of. And who’s fault is that?
Maybe we could help by promoting our own. I do that all the time.
Too bad we don’t have a Philippine Embassy here in Ireland. We do have a Philippines consulate represented by an Irish man (who’s married to a Filipina), who’s main concern is to solve issues of Filipinos here rather than promoting the beauty of the Philippines. And I don’t blame him.
God bless!
Kaya nga kahit sa maliit na paraan, sana’y makatulong ang pinoyambisyoso.com sa promotion ng ating tourism.
Mabuhay ka Kabayan!
PINOYUNITED - I have actually posted in my news article a couple of videos that promotes Philippine tourism. But, to further strenghten this, I shall post in my sidebar now. Wouldn’t it be nice if all the Pinoy bloggers post the video in their sidebar. This will have much greater impact.
@ Olivia - Hi yah.I can see your point. I don’t think I was asking for all the people in the world to come and live in the Philippines. That’s absolutely impossible. I completely understand that we all have our own taste and preferences.
If you have read my article, I did specify the word Orient for which I meant the South East Asia. It would be unfair to deny that other countries within the region are good holiday spots but what I’m saying is it would be nice for them to come and visit the Philippines and experience a different taste of the Orient. The sights, sand and beaches are spectacular and the service second to none.
@ Joy - many thanks for the comment in response to Olivia. It seems that Olivia lives in the States and presumably her Filipino friends live there as well. There is a big difference between going back home for good and going home for a holiday. I’m quite certain and confident without holding any evidence that all the Pinoys in the USA do go home on a regular basis. Undeniably, the States have a higher pay and that probably is one of the reason why they wouldn’t go back to the Philippines for good at present time. This is equally true in my case being here in the UK.
@ Kiko - there’s no need to apologise mate. I did think you will but It’s quite difficult to assume without any confirmation. Surely, everyone do try to promote our country in their own little ways. I do travel whenever I go home but I did admit that I’ve never been further south i.e. Mindanao region - Zamboanga Dakak maybe. Perhaps that’s something we should try the next we go home. But my point is, I really feel that the Philippine DOT in London could perform better.
Sorry to hear about the absence of an Embassy out there, I presume the Embassy in London do get involved.
The website is pretty. Philippines is such a wonderful place. It is the negative publicity of terrorism, graft & corruption, and destabilization that makes us look bad.
Plus, the people are nice, especially to the foreigners.
Have you heard about the Paradise Philippines contest? Try typing ‘Paradise Philippines’ in your search engines
@Paris - I’ve not heard of this contest actually. But, I’ll certainly have a look.
I think the philippines should give priority to what matters most like education, health and tourism. The philippines is so beautiful and foreigners and tourists are missing a lot from our flora and fauna.
i agree. the philippines has a lot to offer pero not a lot has been done to promote them. i’ve been lucky enough to see as much of pinas as i can in my younger, single days, and now that i’ve had the opportunity to see much of the world, i’d have to admit, without being totally biased (hehe!), that some of what our country has to offer are actually at par, or even exceeds.
personally, and this is just my take, i think our government doesn’t really put a premium in promoting philippine travel because the govt thinks our OFWs already bring in the dollar-earnings we would otherwise be earning from tourism. besides, the govt doesn’t really need to cash anything out by encouraging the workers’ diaspora, as opposed to promoting tourism which needs a huge budgetary allocation. imagine, they need to shell out lots of cash in order to promote, maintain, and provide the necessary infrastructure to make tourism in the country accesible and world-class. then they would also argue na money spent for tourism could be better re-allocated to basic services like education and health. yes, maybe, but still.
so this is where, i think, we can all come in. dapat tangkilikin muna natin ang sariling atin, and then we can go about telling people our experiences (with glossy pics, of course). wouldn’t it be great to market the philippines as the secret gem of the pacific or something - the consumate alternate - the detour of hidden treasures - the unconventional oriental (naks!) .
oops, that was uncharacteristically political and lyrical of me, haha! but i couldn’t resist putting my two centavos in there.
and to agree with joy, i am from south florida and aside from the thonged beachgoers, the beaches here have definitely nothing more to offer than our beaches in pinas could, eyecandy-wise.
this is a great topic you raised. the philippines could really benefit if tourism is pushed..
Hey, please spread the word about the first and only Pinoy radio show in the UK called Usapang Pinoy. The pilot show is on the 27th of October at 10pm Manila time. Anyone in the world can go to http://www.futureradio.co.uk and click on LISTEN ONLINE and participate. You can send me instant messages which I will read on air! And I also need Pinoy music to play on the show. I only have a very limited number of songs, so please help if you can.
I already emailed and sent snail mail to record companies in the Philippines - no response.
I can have you on the show as well to promote Philippine tourism!
joy
Your Love Coach
Brod where are you na? Busy ba? Miss ka na namin!
…. it is reality that our neighboring countries is much burst when it comes to tourism. Maybe the main reason why our tourism dept. could not compete with malaysia, thailand and other neighboring countries because of BUDGET reason. Thailand and Malaysia spend much money for their tourism.
dear pinoy united,
thanks for featuring philippine tourism in this forum. we need people like you to help us promote the philippines using the latest technological/internet media. i have not seen your letter, but be sure of our interest to work closely with you to find out the best strategies to promote philippine tourism. give us a call one of these days at 02078351100, let´s sit down and talk. we are actually sitting down with a number of second-generation filipinos in the uk and they have been very supportive of our activities. we should do the same.
maganda itong topic na ito
let’s look at thailand na lang, it is one of the top tourist destination although our beaches have more to offer and pinoys can communicate better because most of us can speak english — kasi they promote their country all over. maganda ang program ng dept of tourism nila. pero to be frank with you, i worked there in the tourism branch for more than five years and been all over; walang tatalo sa boracay at palawan natin 
kung hindi kayanin ng ating dept of tourism, let’s unite.
i agree! i think we all can help if you know all of us filipinos are proud to be ourselves and we talk about how great it is to visit our country. To that effect, i have 8 americans coming home with me to see if what all i was yacking about was true
lol
That’s excellent pinay. Hope you all have a fantstic stay back home.
I agree with you. Thailand and Bali Indonesia are both top destinations for Brits traveling to South East Asia.