Frasco: Marcos admin to revisit ‘It's More Fun in the Philippines’ slogan

Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco on Tuesday said the Marcos administration agreed to revisit the country's current tourism slogan and replace it with one that is reflective of the best qualities of the Filipino people and the Philippines.

During the Commission on Appointments Committee on Tourism hearing, Frasco thanked the people behind the success of the "It's More Fun in the Philippines" campaign but she said that the government should come up with a new one considering the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Considering everything that the Filipino people have been through and everything that the world has been through in the past two and a half years coming out of the pandemic, upon discussion as well with the President, it's the general notion that perhaps it's time to revisit the branding campaign of the Philippines," she said.

"[It's time] to study how it may evolve to reflect the best qualities of the Philippines and the Filipino people, go beyond simply having fun, considering that if we evolve the branding campaign it will in no way diminish any fun tourists may have in the Philippines. The evolution of the branding campaign will only serve to herald Filipino brand and to herald to the world the best qualities of the Filipino people," she added.

Currently, Frasco said there are efforts to conduct a study on how the government can "evolve" the branding campaign and assured the CA members that they will consult the tourism stakeholders.

However, Senator Nancy Binay, who chairs the Senate tourism panel, asked Frasco to reconsider this plan as this may confuse potential tourists from abroad and it might require more funds.

"I hope you would reconsider this plan of yours to change again the slogan. I think isa yan don sa reklamo na we keep on changing the slogans. So yung potential market natin abroad nako-confuse parang... hindi sustainable. Tayo lang ata yug country na every six years we try to change our slogan," Binay stressed.

"And with your limited budget, we should also consider the cost. I've raised this issue with then-[Tourism] Secretary [Wanda] Teo and then at the end of day, they went back to 'It's more fun.' So maybe you should think this over again," she added.

In 2012, the Department of Tourism unveiled its campaign dubbed "It's more fun in the Philippines."

In 2017, it was changed to "Experience the Philippines" but the DOT decided to revert to the previous tourism campaign slogan after about two years. — DVM, GMA News