DOHA KEEN on attracting more residents of Qatar to the Philippines as their next travel destination, the country’s embassy in Doha has stepped up its campaign to popularise the slogan ‘It’s More Fun in the Philippines’.
The embassy hopes to arouse the curiosity of the Qatari and other communities in Qatar about the tourism potential of the Philippines through the campaign which is part of the Southeast Asian country’s international tourism promotion drive, launched in January 2012 at the ASEAN Tourism Forum in Manado, Indonesia.
“The Philippines has so many beautiful tourist attractions across its more than 7,100 islands. The country is endowed with natural beauty that could rival the best in the world including beautiful beaches, flora and fauna.
Besides, different regions of the country organise round the year colourful festivals depicting the country’s rich historical and cultural heritage.
Moreover, the Philippines is one of the countries in the world which is friendly to tourists as the English is universally spoken in the country. Most of all, the Filipinos are known for their excellent food, hospitality as well as world class customer services,” said Philippine Ambassador to Qatar HE Crescente Relacion.
‘It’s More Fun in the Philippines’ aims to increase the influx of tourists into the Philippines reaching a target of 10 million tourists by 2016.
The catchy slogan literally answers the questions, ‘Why the Philippines? It intends to revive the vibrancy of tourism sector of the country which is lagging behind its neighbours like Thailand and Malaysia.
According to reports, while Thailand receives about 15 million tourists annually, the Philippines only gets about 4 million.
According to the Relacion, “The Philippines is not as popular as Thailand and Malaysia as tourist destination for GCC residents because of a number of factors.
One of these is the negative publicity about the law and order situation of the country. Another factor affecting the inflow of GCC tourists to the country is that the Department of Tourism concentrated more on promoting Philippine tourism in Western countries than in the GCC. Lack of conveniences and facilities that would cater to Muslim tourists such as the ready availability of halal food is also a factor. However, tourism in the Philippines has received a big boost during the years of President Aquino’s administration because of the positive impression it has created on the international community by following the administration’s policy of transparency good governance.” While tourism promotion has always been a part of the embassy’s economic diplomacy programme, this time it is putting even greater stress on the initiative in line with the massive campaign of the Department of Tourism (DoT). In fact, one of the directives of the Philippine agency is for Filipinos working and residing abroad to be ‘ambassadors’ of their own country.
The embassy has a designated desk where tourism materials from DoT can be displayed and distributed to the Filipinos and people of other nationalities visiting the office.
Through the Philippine Independence Organising Committee (PINOC), a tourism committee dedicated to the promotion of the campaign was formed in December 2012. One of the initiatives of group is reaching out to more than 100 Filipino organisations in Qatar to educate their members about the tourism sector of their own country.
During important Filipino functions and other events, the embassy tries to make the most of the gathering to showcase the campaign.
At the recent Men’s World Tennis Championship in Qatar, the Philippine booth featured Filipino crafts and informative materials.
Future plans of the embassy include hosting cultural shows and food festivals.
Post a Comment
Post a Comment