The Department of Tourism (DoT) said that changing its branding direction in its Love the Philippines campaign will help boost the country’s tourism growth.
“Upon entry into the office, the first mandate that I had carried out was to change the tone of voice of the Department of Tourism with regard to how it communicates to the public,” DoT Assistant Secretary for Branding and Marketing Communications Armand Lorenze “Ren” Sapitan told lawmakers in a House Committee on Appropriations budget hearing.
“We didn’t have to change the members of branding and the marketing team,” he added. “The only thing that we adopted was a change in direction.”
Mr. Sapitan noted that the agency will shift how it approaches the Love the Philippines campaign instead of replacing it through its Discover More to Love program.
“We would not change this campaign because we recognize that the administration only has two years left,” he said. “What we are changing is how we approach the campaign.”
“The way we relate to the people, the way we promote, the way we market our tourism destinations,” he added.
The Discover More to Love program aims to highlight local destinations by partnering with companies, offering travel bundles and discounted offers.
“The Sun Group actually not only invests in marketing, but they also invest in the entire ecosystem,” Tourism Secretary Dita Angara-Mathay explained, citing the agency’s relationship with the private sector.
“The tourist attractions, from hotels, the accommodation, the entire village – that’s the kind of investment that is complete; it’s almost like a subsidy,” she added.
Filipino talents BINI and SB19 were also named as the country’s tourism ambassadors who will support the push for domestic travel.
The DoT earmarked a P4.03 billion budget under the 2027 National Expenditure Program (NEP), down 4.6% or P196 million from the approved P4.23 billion budget for 2026.
Of the proposed budget, P1 billion will fund branding campaigns, mostly for overseas marketing (60%) and domestic efforts (40%).
“You could see that the aesthetic that we are showing in our social platforms has improved drastically,” said Mr. Sapitan. “We’re not showing our faces anymore; we are showing the beautiful places across the Philippines.”
Former Tourism Secretary Ma. Esperanza Christina G. Frasco previously faced criticism during her tenure over alleged overexposure in the agency’s promotional materials. — Almira Louise S. Martinez