bohol resorts & travel destinations

MANILA, Philippines – With his stature in the international sports arena, Saranggani Representative and boxing champion Manny Pacquiao could be the best endorser of the country’s tourism, a leader of the House of Representatives said on Wednesday.

Minority Leader and Albay Representative Edcel Lagman proposed that Pacquiao hold his next fight in the country, saying it will be “a tremendous boost to Philippine tourism.”

Lagman noted that the ticket sales during Pacquiao’s fight with Mexican Antonio Margarito that filled the Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas and the pay-per-view sales shows the drawing power of the boxing champion.

“He has a loyal foreign following who would not hesitate to come to Manila to see him fight and balikbayans may also take the opportunity to come home. Moreover, local tourism will also improve because Pacman fans outside Metro Manila will not let this once-in-a-lifetime chance of seeing Manny fight live pass,” he said.

Holding Pacquiao’s next match here will be similar to Singapore’s holding the Formula 1 in the city-state, according to Lagman. Because of this, he said foreign tourists flock to Singapore for the night race.

“Should Manny decide to fight here, the Department of Tourism can make it the template for sports-adventure tourism in the country. Adventure races, triathlons, marathons and other sporting events can be scheduled around the time of the fight. It is important to get tourists to stay in the Philippines beyond the fight, have a pleasant and memorable time and spend their dollars here,” he said.

Aside from the boxing match, Lagman said the country can offer side attractions such as allied sports events and adventure tour package, and facilities to support tourism such as hotels, restaurants, shopping malls and entertainment centers.

“The only other thing we have to ensure for this to be a foolproof formula is to guarantee the safety of our tourists,” he added.PDI

MANILA, Philippines—Officials from the Philippine Embassy in London met with the United Kingdom Border Agency (UKBA) recently to discuss the impact on Filipino workers of a new immigration cap to be imposed next year on non-European nationals, the Department of Foreign Affairs said.

“The Embassy expressed its concern that those who are already in the UK under Tier 1 (highly skilled workers) and Tier 2 (skilled workers) categories be not unduly affected by the new policies,” the DFA said.

Starting April 2011, the hiring of workers under Tiers 1 and 2 from non-European Union countries shall be limited to 21,700 per year, British Home Secretary Theresa May announced this month.

The restriction was aimed at reducing net immigration figures to the “tens of thousands” from previous immigration numbers, the DFA said.

“This is also envisioned to establish manageable and sustainable immigration levels,” it said, adding that further details and implementing guidelines on the immigration cap were expected in the coming months.

It added that the UKBA and the Philippine Embassy agreed to regularly exchange views and relevant information to ensure the smooth and fair implementation of the new regulations.

The DFA said it would continue to raise immigration concerns and issues in its regular consultations with UK counterparts, including during the planned Philippines-UK High-Level Consultations in 2011.

The new limit for Tier 2 applicants will not cover in-country applications from those already in the UK; dependents of Tier 2 migrants; Tier 2 (General) applicants who are filling a vacancy with a salary of more than UK£150,000; Tier 2 (Sportsperson) applicants; Tier 2 (Minister of religion) applicants; and Tier 2 (Intra company transfer) applicants.-PDI

MANILA, Philippines—(UPDATE) After getting unsavory comments for its lackluster tourism slogan, the Department of Tourism is again under fire, this time for allegedly imitating Poland’s tourism campaign logo, according to a report on Radyo Inquirer.

The blogosphere was abuzz over the striking similarities between the “Pilipinas Kay Ganda” design and Poland’s tourism logo.

Spanky Hizon Enriquez posted the two logos in his blog entry
“Plagiarized ‘Pilipinas Kay Ganda’ Logo.”

A check with Poland’s Official Travel website http://www.poland.travel/en confirmed that it’s indeed the country’s tourism logo.

Readers of the blog post compared the two logos, from the typeface used to the colors, and concluded that they look very similar.

Jerome in his comment said: “Ouch, same font for letter P, I, A and S and a little bit for the L. Yep, this is plagiarized T-T (Nooooo!).”

“I think this project was made in haste and has low budget. I feel that their superiors are saying, ‘To all employees, just copy and paste everything and use paint so we will just spend P500’,” Jerome said with sarcasm.

Sean Francis P Magsayo said: “A big disappointment. They could have maximized the Filipino people’s talent… But even its promotion is ‘pirated’!.”

“Whatever happened to WOW Philippines? That was nice. It was a lot better than this one. And what’s with the “h” at the end of ganda? Are we advocating a new language now?” asked reader hellbabe.

“I wish the ad agency who was commissioned to do this, showed a little more originality, and for the Department of Tourism to approve it… what is wrong with you people,” hellbabe added.

Anonymous was more harsh in his comment: “Disgrace. Total disgrace. If there is little self-respect to the designer who made this, the only option is to resign and pursue another profession.

“Design is not about good layout, cool colors and fantastic use of fonts. It is an expression of excellence and a rendition of dignity. I see none of these from this shameless work.”

Blogger Richie was, well, comical. “Maybe it’s just a coincidence… a coincidence that the fonts are the same, same waves, same started with P, both have tree. Do you think there are just too many coincidences? I think so, too.”

Enriquez, meanwhile, apologized to the Polish tourism office. “I’m really sorry for calling your logo a good Google Doodle.”

And for the Philippine tourism officials, Enriquez has this message: quit.

The DoT denied it copied Poland’s logo, media reports said.

On Wednesday, the tourism department pulled its online tourism campaign amid controversies over mediocre tagline and porn site link.PDI

MANILA, Philippines—(UPDATE) The government said Wednesday it had pulled a tourism promotion campaign off the Internet after just one day, after critics panned the rebrand and warned that unwary surfers could easily end up at a porn site instead.

“Bland,” “Lacks punch,” “Sounds dishonest” were among posts made on popular networking sites about the “Pilipinas Kay Ganda” (Philippines What a Beauty) website launched by the tourism department to much fanfare late Monday.

Critics also panned the decision to use the local spelling of the country’s name, warning that a similar site, www.beautifulfilipinas.com, was pornographic.

Ministry spokeswoman Evelyn Macayayong said the government acknowledged the criticisms and pulled down the website on Tuesday for revisions.

“The write-ups were not thoroughly edited. There were errors, and there are even allegations of plagiarism, that we copied from other websites,” Macayayong told AFP.

The aborted tourism campaign was top-billed by a candy-colored logo of the slogan adorned with a coconut tree, an endangered tiny primate called a tarsier, the sun, and waves.

Critics called for the country’s eight-year-old tourism slogan, “Wow Philippines,” to be retained.

Filipino tourism industry pundit Ivan Henares wrote on his popular tourism blog, Ivan About Town: “I can’t understand why (we) want to get rid of a brand our country has worked so hard to build and invested so much money on.”

In response, Macayayong referred AFP to Tourism Minister Alberto Lim’s speech at Monday’s launch.

“It is a radical departure from what our neighbours are doing, and to the faint of heart, a bit risky,” Lim had said, defending the rebranding as a result of market research conducted by an unnamed major advertising firm.

Prominent tourist guide Carlos Celdran wrote on Facebook that the government could have done better with “Mabuhay (Long Live the) Philippines,” which the ministry had used prior to “Wow Philippines.”

“It’s our Ole. It’s our Aloha. Seriously. It’s one word in Tagalog (Filipino) that I think a lot of foreigners might even know,” he added.

Macayayong, the department spokeswoman, defended the new slogan.

“It raises awareness. It inculcates pride in our identity,” she said.

However the government has restored its previous website (at www.tourism.gov.ph) following the criticism. Macayong said she could not say when the edited version of the new one would go live.

The Philippines has been struggling to shake off its image as an unsafe destination after a botched police rescue of foreign tourists seized in a bus by a dismissed policeman in August that left eight Hong Kong residents dead.

Macayayong said tourist arrivals in the eight months to August were up 14 percent from a year earlier to 2.1 million. However, the government has said it expects some fallout from the fiasco for the rest of the year.

Lim said he was confident the ministry would attain its full-year target of 3.3 million arrivals, from just over three million in 2009, even though the government expects some fallout from the hostage fiasco.

“Even if we incur a slowdown in the months following the hostage-taking incident, we are optimistic that November and December figures will be on the rebound as historical peak periods,” Lim added.PDI

MANILA, Philippines—The Philippines strongly urged members of the United Nations Security Council to take a “balanced” approach in the international campaign against terrorism and called on governments to “exercise due care and diligence” in issuing travel advisories, particularly those that relate to “possible terrorist attacks.”

In his statement during the Security Council meeting in New York Monday, Philippine Deputy Permanent Representative Carlos Sorreta underscored the need to take on a holistic approach in addressing terrorism, pointing out that for counter-terrorism strategies to be effective, “they must be comprehensive and must be addressed by a combination of hard and soft approaches.”

He said that balance must also be achieved in the issuance of travel advisories.

“Travel advisories are taken very seriously. Once issued, travel issues cannot be taken back. While the Philippines recognizes the responsibility of States to protect their citizens, we believe Governments must exercise must exercise due care and diligence in issuing travel advisories,” he said.

Sorreta stressed, “Advisories affect not just traveling citizens but also the lifeline and the economy of a country that is the subject of a travel advisory.”

He explained that in travel advisories, “governments must clearly distinguish between threats posed by ordinary criminal elements and those by terrorists, two very distinct categories.”

In one of the Philippine Permanent Mission’s strongest statements yet on the subject, Sorreta said during his speech that when a travel advisory cannot distinguish between the two (ordinary criminals and terrorists), the advisory is “a disservice to the country issuing it and the country that is subject to it.”

The Philippines was recently the subject of travel advisories from the United States, United Kingdom, New Zealand, Canada, and Australia warning against travel to the country after an alleged “cargo bomb” against the United States were foiled on Friday last week.

The Philippines has sought clarification from the concerned governments regarding the issued travel advisories.

In a separate statement, Philippine Permanent Representative to the United Nations Libran Cabactulan said it is important for the Philippines to express its position with the Security Council, especially when the body was discussing items relating to counter-terrorism.

The Philippines has raised the issue of travel advisories in the Asean Summit and its related meetings and the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation.

“The Security Council has the primary responsibility under the UN Charter for the maintenance of international peace and security. It is the most appropriate venue to discuss ways forward in the collective fight against terrorism and to express concerns at how the international community is addressing terrorism, including travel advisories,” said Cabactulan.

The Security Council is made up of five permanent members of China, France, the Russian Federation, United Kingdom, and the United States and the 10 non-permanent members on rotation. This year, these are: Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Gabon, Japan, Lebanon, Mexico, Nigeria, Turkey, and Uganda.PDI

The Philippines, known the world over for its tropical charm, spectacular beaches and smiling people, has a new brand coined in the native tongue: “Pilipinas Kay Ganda” (So beautiful)!

“The brand that you are about to see is relevant, distinctive and believable … It is something that we can distinctly claim and every foreigner who has visited our shores will attest to,” Tourism Secretary Alberto Lim told stakeholders, VIPs, diplomats, government officials and other guests on Monday night.

Lim led the Department of Tourism in unveiling the new Philippine label in a flashy ceremony that also marked the retirement of the 8-year-old brand “Wow Philippines.”

He said that the new campaign was “still a work in progress” and “not yet final,” and that it would be rolled out to the public early in January. By then, he said, it would have undergone market testing and focus group discussions.

The new brand carries a logo featuring a sun, the ubiquitous coconut tree, and a tarsier (a primate endemic to the forests of Bohol) to portray the Philippines’ distinctive tropical destinations and its people’s sunny disposition, according to Lim.

Speaking later with the Inquirer, Lim said the smiling coconut tree and the tarsier cuddling the first “i” in “Pilipinas” were inputs by President Benigno Aquino III himself when the idea was presented to him.

Best qualities

“The brand … extols the innermost beauty not just of our destinations but also of our people and everything else that we do,” Lim said in a speech at the launch.

And it was not as if the tourism department fell short of imagination or inspiration in coming up with the new brand. Tourism executives said the brand harped on the Philippines’ best qualities that made it stand out among its glossy neighbors.

From its modest 2011 budget, the tourism department has allotted P200 million for the brand campaign out of the P500 million earmarked for promotions next year, according to Undersecretary Vicente Romano III.

To drive home the point, Romano, who handles tourism planning and promotions, engaged the guests in a guessing exercise: From flashing photos of breath-taking beaches, rustic edifices, and giant shopping malls, which were in the Philippines?

The photos showed beaches in Bali, Phuket, Vietnam, New Zealand, Spain, Maldives, Malaysia, and Boracay and Palawan in the Philippines; shopping malls in Bangkok, Singapore, Malaysia and Metro Manila; and historic structures in Indonesia and Thailand, and the Philippines’ Bacolod and Ilocos.

The guests, including, Vice President Jejomar Binay and Leyte Rep. Imelda Marcos, laughed when they found out that they had scored poorly.

Said Romano: “Our destinations [and] malls, they all look the same. What we need aside from fixing infrastructure is good marketing, and it starts with a new brand.”

“Pilipinas Kay Ganda” was conceived following a study that concluded that “it is as much the beauty of the people as it is the beauty of our scenery” that drew foreign tourists, according to Romano.

Hospitality top drawer

The study showed that Filipino hospitality was among the top drawers of tourists from North America, Europe and Asian countries (except for South Korea).

The tourism department also considered the results of the CNN Consumer Connect and the Global Travel and Tourism Survey for Asia Pacific conducted by Synovate in May-June.

In the survey, 3,500 respondents were asked what holiday activities would interest them in their next vacation. Sightseeing scored 67 percent; arts and culture and beaches also scored high.

Romano said that while other Asian countries used English words such as “incredible,” “amazing” and “cool” in their promotions, the Philippine brand was a way of expressing renewed pride in and hope for the country.

“We are using our native name and the vernacular to tell our story in our own way, to make it rise above the competition,” Romano said.

He said the phrase “Kay Ganda” was also the best way to express appreciation for the Philippines’ scenery, food and music, as well as its people and its attitude.

Using Filipino will also help set off a connection between locals and foreign visitors, Romano later told the Inquirer.

“It will help us engage with foreign visitors because they will be prompted to ask. And when they ask more questions, they will get more interested,” he said.

Ricky Reyes

But social networking sites show that not everyone is happy with the new Philippine brand.

“Why do I expect Ricky Reyes to suddenly appear in the new [tourism] website?” Arnold Romero said in his Twitter account, referring to the noted beautician who uses “Ang Ganda” in promoting his chain of salons and services.

Said another Twitter user, Hazel Hung: “The slogan makes me want to go to a salon and have my hair permed.”

In his Facebook account, Dexter Baldon said the new brand sounded like a Sibika at Kultura textbook for grade school students.

“How about something catchier for foreign tourists?” he said.

Others wondered why the tourism department had to overhaul the brand “Wow Philippines.”

Concerned netizens also warned that one wrong punch on the keyboard could direct Internet users to a porn site rather than the new website www.beautifulpilipinas.com.

Resistance expected

Lim admitted at the launch that the new trademark was “radical and risky.”

He said he expected the tourism department to be met with the same “stiff resistance” that tested Singapore’s complete overhaul of its own campaign early this year.

“But we need to be more daring in expressing our brand, if we are to rise above the clutter,” Lim said, adding:

“Going back to the question, Why not just build on the ‘Wow Philippines’ brand? … The answer is quite simple.

“At a time when every nation, big or small, is either creating a new brand or repackaging its current one, would you rather rehash an 8-year-old brand? Besides, a new brand always generates a buzz that translates to more media mileage for the same promotional budget.”

Lim said a new brand always took time to be accepted.

“In the end, it is the faith and trust in the brand of the various stakeholders that can make or break a brand … That’s why I’d like to invite all of you to join hands and rally behind the brand … Together let’s make [it] not only believable, but also real,” he said.