DOT's ‘Love the Philippines’ campaign already 'unsalvageable' —Sen. Binay

Senator Nancy Binay on Wednesday described the Department of Tourism's (DOT) “Love the Philippines” campaign as “unsalvageable” and urged them to revert to the previous campaign. 

The Senate tourism committee chairperson made the statement as she noted that the latest Philippine tourism advertisement gaffe had already made headlines around the globe.

"Tourism is a sensitive market. Political unrest, negative media, and people's perceptions influence travelers' decisions. Dahil nga sa nangyari, headline na tayo sa buong mundo. Naging laughing stock na ang slogan, at masyado nang tinamaan ang campaign. Nakakalungkot dahil sa unang tapak pa lamang, imbes na umarangkada ay umatras tayo,” Binay said.

"Kung meron pang ilalabas na [television commercial] ang DOT, it is not wise to gamble dahil inaabangan na ng netizens ang susunod na 'Love' iterations para gawan ng spoof. Ang recommendation is to revert to the tried-and-tested campaign, and from there gumawa na lang ng tactical marketing plan para maiwasan ang window na isabotahe," she suggested.

'Beaten and battered'

For Binay, the goals set by the Tourism Department have already “tilted and shifted.”

While it may look good on paper, Binay said the campaign was “beaten and battered in the real world.”

"The DOT's enhanced campaign has lost the persuasion game. We all can sense the discombobulating algorithms which carry promotion-limiting consequences. The campaign has lost its redeeming value and has become unsalvageable—I hope the DOT is level-headed enough to accept this,” Binay said.

She added that the Senate is expecting the Tourism Department to be agile and move forward from failure.

“We don't want the slogan to become a national embarrassment and look like losers. Again, huwag nang ipilit. Hindi masama ang magkamali. LOVE was not meant to be. Let us all move on and just bring back the FUN to the Philippines," Binay said.

GMA News Online has sought comment from the DOT on Binay's statements but it has yet to reply as of posting time. 

Meanwhile, Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco said Wednesday that they will keep the ''Love the Philippines'' campaign.

Frasco made the confirmation in an ambush interview during an event in Pasay City. 

“I think that is evident,” she briefly answered the press.

She also repeatedly mentioned the ''Love the Philippines'' in her speech, and the slogan logo was also displayed on the stage of the event.

Moving forward

Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva also stressed the need to move forward from this “unfortunate incident” and focus the government’s effort to restore traveller confidence to increase domestic and foreign tourism activities.

He reiterated his call for a whole-of-government approach to tourism promotion, which includes reducing the cost of travel through the improvement of transport services, providing skills training for our workers in the tourism industry in anticipation of higher visitor demand, and assisting our Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in the production of local goods and products.

On the other hand, Senators Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara and Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go expressed support for Tourism Secretary Cristina Frasco amid the latest tourism campaign gaffe.

In a statement, Angara said the controversy involving the “Love the Philippines” campaign should not diminish the accomplishments made by the Tourism chief in promoting the country to the world.

“Clearly there were issues with what was presented by the advertising agency but what is important is that Sec. Frasco acted immediately to address the issue and ensured that no public funds were wasted for this purpose,” Angara said.

The lawmaker noted that Frasco has been doing well as the face of Philippine tourism, citing data which claims that the DOT recorded over 2 million international visitor arrivals in the country from January to middle of May this year.

This breached the full-year 1.7 million target of the department, the senator noted.

Angara also mentioned that for the period of January to April, the DOT recorded P168.2 billion in inbound visitor receipts.

This represents a 782 percent increase from the P19.1 billion in tourism revenues generated over the same period last year, he added.

Further, Angara said that the Philippines has received six nominations in the World Travel Awards Asia under Frasco’s leadership.

“What the DOT has done over the past two years following the pandemic has been remarkable and with Sec. Frasco leading the charge in declaring the Philippines open for tourists, I am confident that Philippine tourism will be able to reach new heights and the world will see the many reasons to Love the Philippines,” Angara said.

Go issued a similar statement of support for Frasco.

“I continue to support Tourism Sec. Christina Garcia Frasco and the rest of DOT for their efforts to further improve our country’s tourism sector. I laud their immediate actions in addressing the issue that the promotional video has caused and in ensuring that public funds are not wasted. Instead of dwelling on the problem, let us work together to provide solutions,” he said.

Barely a week after the DOT unveiled the country’s tourism slogan,  “Love the Philippines,” the new tourism campaign has been marred with controversy after the department’s contractor for the project admitted using non-original stock footage in its audiovisual presentation.

The DOT has since terminated its contract with DDB Philippines for the said campaign. —VAL, GMA Integrated News