Tourism Secretary Wanda Teo disagrees with news reports on the alleged extrajudicial killings in the country were scaring off tourists and driving down arrivals of foreign visitors.
"There's still an increase in tourist arrivals," Teo said. "Tourists still come in spite of that so, for me, it has not been affected."
The Department of Tourism said it's on track to reach its six-million tourist mark by the end of 2013, since the 3.8-million mark was reached in July.
Tourism revenues increased by nearly 10.5 percent from last year to 21.2 billion pesos in July 2016. Koreans are the top visitors and spenders in the country, accounting for six billion pesos of the revenues.
'It's More Fun in the Philippines' Slogan to be Ditched by 2017
Starting January next year, the DOT will no longer use the popular slogan "It's More Fun in the Philippines" after a study suggests that it failed to entice more tourists to visit the country.
A Nielsen study found that the slogan failed to encourage tourists to visit the Philippines, DOT Undersecretary Kat De Castro said Tuesday in a press conference.
"The new campaign under Secretary Wanda Teo will be more specific in terms of destination and what activities [tourists] can do," said De Castro.
"We would like to reinforce the Philippines brand... and definitely inject more unique Philippine experience with the local cuisine and culture to make it more authentic," De Castro added.
The popular "It's More Fun in the Philippines" campaign kicked off in 2012 and led to thousands of creative memes on social media platforms.
The Nielsen study conducted from March to April this year showed that in Europe, nearly two in three survey respondents like the slogan but only one in four said they would travel to the Philippines.
In North America, three in four respondents favored the tagline but less than half only said they would visit the country.
The DOT is now soliciting ideas from advertising companies for a new slogan to be used in a campaign which will be launched with the country's hosting of Ms. Universe in January 2017.
Source: CNN Philippines
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