Bringing More Tourists To the Philippines

Everytime I travel abroad, I make it a point to convert one of the locals in that country into visiting the Philippines on his or her next vacation.  With several budget airlines serving the Philippines and Malaysia, it was not very difficult to do that.  I met several locals today, and their first reaction to visiting the Philippines is about the kidnappings.  I had to tell them that those kidnappings happen very far in the south - in areas which I would not even recommend to them.  However, aside from Manila, I suggested they visit Cebu, Boracay and Palawan.  I do hope some of them do decide to visit us here. That would be fantastic for our local economy.  One even said he might suggest it to his friends!  How cool is that!

I'm All For the ASEAN Tourist Visa!

The ASEAN is mulling the idea of offering one single tourist visa to everyone visiting the ASEAN!  I think that's a very good idea since it can give a incentive for those in one ASEAN country to cross the border and visit the other countries!  That way, we can get some visitors already visiting Thailand (I think this region's tourism superpower) or Malaysia or Singapore.  The ASEAN has recorded 65 million foreign visitor arrivals in 2009!  Actually, it's Malaysia who leads the region in tourism, then Thailand, Singapore then Indonesia.  The Philippines is only sixth.  Tsk tsk.....Well, let's see how this idea shapes up to be a reality.

Their Perception of Our Country Is More Important than the Marketing Campaign

I love traveling abroad and I don't think it's the marketing campaign that got me there.  But yes, marketing campaigns like Amazing Thailand or Malaysia Truly Asia or Incredible India just helped confirm my expectations of these places, after I've visited them. 

So I guess an updated marketing campaign to counter the recent spate of negative perception of our country could probably help spruce up our image abroad.  However, what I think is more important than that, is that more good news of our country will be broadcast abroad.  Manny Pacquiao's recent win is  one of them.  The positive economic news is another. Hopefully, good governing policies from Pnoy. I think those could help spruce up our image abroad. 

When I pick a country to visit, I will always be held back if there's bad news about that country. Images of rallies or strikes or news of crime against tourists would certainly hold me back.  We cannot control the news but the government can project that it is in full control when crisis happens - whether it be a natural disaster or a hostage taking.  Even if we have a fancy marketing campaign, it can easily be shot down by images of a cop hostaging foreign tourists which is then magnified all over the world! 

If the government can show the world that foreign tourists will be safe here (we are a safe place, but we have to show it explicitly to prospective tourists), then we may have won half of the bottle.  It's not difficult to sell what our country can offer.  We have so many fabulous places for tourists to visit. What is difficult is to convince them that they will not be beheaded here or be shot by a corrupt cop.