How do you sell the world’s most beautiful country? It is a question often posed to Ramon R Jimenez Jr, former ad man and the Philippines current Secretary of Tourism. “Tourism is a country effort and therefore it must be something that everyone in the country gets behind,” he says. “Fortunately we live in an age when citizens can actively participate in a national marketing effort. So I intend to sell our country through our people. I want tourism to be the people’s business.” And Filipinos are participating with gusto.
Social media is incredibly popular in the Philippines, where online engagement and interaction levels are among the highest in the world. Filipinos are 27-million strong on Facebook – the eighth highest Facebook uptake of any country worldwide, at around 27 per cent of the population. However a relatively low overall internet penetration actually means that 91 per cent of web users have Facebook accounts. “We are the only Asian country that can cause worldwide trending on Twitter and we thrive on social networks because we have a natural desire to connect with others,” says Mr Jimenez.
In January, the Department of Tourism openly inviting the nation’s bloggers, tweeters and Facebook friends to come up with their own ads for its new campaign featuring the tagline: It’s More Fun in the Philippines. The response was astounding. Within hours #itsmorefuninthephilippines became the number one trending item on Twitter, and continues to trend, while on Facebook, users filled pages with inventive ads.
Commercially, President Benigno Aquino III believes opportunities in the country’s tourism are ripe for picking. During a speech in January at the Arangkada Philippines Forum, he said: “I have often characterised the tourism sector as a low-lying fruit, which, with some creativity, can be promptly picked, for the benefit of my people. Filipinos have never lacked for creativity, and that is now on full display through the campaign.”
Indeed, it is already bearing fruit. Visitor numbers reached a new record in the first quarter of 2012, rising 16 per cent compared to Q1 2011 to almost 1.15 million – 25 per cent of its 2012 international visitor target of 4.6 million. “Tourism is the epicentre of a business boom,” says Mr Jimenez. “The world is now starting to see that ‘It’s More Fun in the Philippines’ is not just a bunch of words on a streamer. It is a competitive argument for choosing the Philippines as one of the world’s top tourist destinations.”
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