Department of Tourism Launches New Tourism Campaign

After the Department of Tourism pulled out the much-hated "Pilipinas Kay Ganda" campaign, the DOT is at it again with a new and improved campaign slogan, which according to Tourism secretary Mon Jimenez could bring in 10 million tourists to the country by 2016. The DOT expects 4.6 million tourists in the country for 2012.

On January 6, 2012 the "It's More Fun in the Philippines" campaign was launched which so far has received more favorable reviews compared to the "Pilipinas Kay Ganda" campaign which according to critics, was plagiarized from that of Poland's tourism campaign. Critics also added that the campaign would not really be able to attract foreign tourists anyway as the slogan is in a local language. 

Not too long after the new campaign was launched yesterday, the critics were again quick to say something against it, as they pointed out similarities to Switzerland's "It's more fun in Switzerland" campaign during the 1950s. The DOT, however, said that they were not aware of this Swiss campaign, and the similarities were just purely coincidental. 

In my opinion, I do think this new campaign is indeed much better and more promising than the "Pilipinas Kay Ganda" one. Though it may seem pretty wordy (as opposed to "Incredible India" or "Malaysia Truly Asia"), it does give foreigners a reason to be curious and check out the place for themselves--why is it more fun in the Philippines? This question could be answered if they would go and see it themselves.

On the campaign's website, a few pictures have already been posted, that would serve as "samples" for possible advertising campaigns. Here's one as an example: 

It does, however, remind me of the older "More Than the Usual" campaigns--back when the slogan was still "Wow Philippines", during the early 2000s. After I saw these photos posted on the website, I was immediately reminded of these older campaigns which I remember seeing when I was a child. I see more similarities to this old campaign than to the 1950s Swiss campaign--the 1950s campaign does not really tackle the "Why is it more fun here" question the same way as the Philippine version, or at least that's how I see it based on the old print advertisement I saw online.

The 1950s Swiss campaign

The DOT seems pretty happy with this new campaign of theirs. The people seem happier about it too; let's hope this will be a sign of better things to come. Our country desperately needs tourists to help give our economy a boost--our neighboring countries have left us behind a long time ago. I think it's time to catch up.