Department of Tourism (DOT) Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco speaks to the press during the Kapihan sa in Manila Bay on Wednesday (May 24) to discuss the Philippines’ post-pandemic The tourism roadmap under the economy and the sector’s efforts to transform the Philippines into an Asian tourism powerhouse.
She said that in order to make the Philippines a tourism powerhouse in Asia, the Marcos government has been promoting the Philippines both at home and abroad.
“Through the efforts of DOT and our affiliate Tourism Promotion Council, we have welcomed an estimated sales leads of no less than P3.33 billion from various international fairs that we participate in in all hemispheres of the world – in Asia, Middle East , Europe, America, etc. Domestically, we also try to connect our regions with each other through promotions and connections and tourism opportunities, such as our North Luzon Travel Expo, our Mindanao Travel Expo, and the upcoming Central Philippines Tour exposition, because there is no denying, for example, siguro meron pa tayong mga kababayan na who lives in Luzon, has never been to Mindanao, lives in Central Visayas, has never been to the hinterland of northern Luzon,” she explain.
At the launch of the much-anticipated enhanced tourism slogan, the tourism chief stressed that the agency will continue to market the country as an “interesting destination” while also emphasizing the Philippines as a destination with a rich and diverse Filipino culture to offer A rich, immersive and purposeful experience, perfectly matched with the love, warmth and hospitality of the Filipino people.
“We are strengthening the tourism slogan and we will certainly take into account the opinions of various stakeholders. I would like to emphasize that the global trends supported by data from various reliable and well-known tourism-related publications show that people travel after the pandemic. There have been changes, chief among them is that people now want some substantive, immersive, and authentic cultural experiences where they have the opportunity to learn about the culture of the places they visit. There is also a strong emphasis on getting to know the community opportunity. These trends dovetail well with underutilized Philippine tourism assets—our culture, our people, our communities. That’s why an enhanced tourism slogan will give our country an opportunity to market itself, not only will It was an interesting destination, it will continue to be an interesting destination, but it will also be a destination for everything else, including highlighting our culture and our people,” she said.
“I can also qualify that the promotion of Philippine tourism does not only depend on branding campaigns. More importantly, it depends heavily on product development, improving various aspects of Philippine tourism, making our country better than our ASEAN countries. Neighboring countries are low,” the tourism chief added, emphasizing the importance of infrastructure, connectivity and digitization identified by the President as priorities for this administration.
Minister Frasco also highlighted the need for tourism infrastructure, discussing existing flagship Tourism Enterprise Zones (TEZs) ready for investment, including San Vicente in Palawan; Panglao in Bohol; Reguido Island; Mount Samat in Bataan; Clark, Pampanga; near Rizal Park, where Manila Ocean Park is currently located; and 15 other registered TEZs.
“So what our fellow Filipinos can expect is that the Marcos administration is investing in tourism, not only in our well-known destinations, but also in our lesser-known destinations,” the secretary of state said.
