It’s really unfortunate that the country’s tourism campaign, instead of gaining love, had to suffer a loss after several fact-checking media outlets found out that the advertising agency, DDB Philippines, which created the launch video for the “Love the Philippines” campaign, had “cheated,” using stock photos and videos from other countries and represented them as being known tourist spots in our country.
It was found that the DDB Philippines-produced “Love the Philippines” video merely used stock photos and footage taken from apps as analyzed by the fact-check team of Agence France-Presse.
Shots of the rice terraces to showcase the communities in Banaue and Benguet, for example, were stock footage of Ubud, Bali, Indonesia. An aerial shot of sand dunes, which is a feature of the Ilocos, was identified as being in Cumboco, Brazil, while a guy driving a buggy over the sand dunes was an image of the dunes in the United Arab Emirates.
DDB Philippines has since apologized, calling it an “unfortunate oversight”. The Department of Tourism, for its part, has canceled its tourism campaign contract with the ad agency, citing violations of the latter’s obligation under the terms of the contract.
To be frank, I don’t think the mere cancellation of the contract with DDB Philippines will suffice to gloss over the mess the ad firm caused for the country and the tourism sector, both locally and internationally.
We have to be aware of the damage and the opportunity loss this debacle has caused to our tourism sector and, conceivably, our economic growth. Travel and tourism, because of their strong linkages to other sectors, are an integral part of a country’s economy. This is specifically true for the Philippines where our growth comes primarily from services and consumption.
The tourism industry stimulates growth in the accommodations sector. With strong tourist arrivals, investments in hotels, resorts, vacation houses and rentals, also grow. This leads to the creation of jobs in the construction and hospitality sectors, and also increases demand for local food, souvenirs and handicraft.
Growth in the tourism sector also generates growth in the transportation and communications sectors.
Tourism requires transportation services, such as airlines, ships and boats, taxis, rental cars and public transport. These in turn promote infrastructure development in airports, seaports, roads and highways.
Economic models have shown us that tourism revenues increase government revenues and household income, generate employment opportunities, and therefore lead to economic growth.
The vibrancy of our tourism should come naturally to us the way we Filipinos pride ourselves in being one of the most hospitable cultures in the world. Moreover, the tourism sector should be one of our strongest industries considering that it is services and consumption driven. Yet, we have continually failed to capitalize on this and we have remained a laggard compared to our ASEAN counterparts like Thailand and Malaysia.
Thailand has been running its “Amazing Thailand” tourism campaign since 1999 and it is one of the most successful campaigns in the world. It simply features striking visuals of Thailand’s beaches, temples, and food.
In 2019, before the pandemic, tourist arrivals in Thailand almost reached 40 million while the Philippines generated barely 10 percent of that, or less than 4 million.
We truly must rethink our tourism strategy and align it with strategies that work for other ASEAN nations with which our country shares geographical and cultural features.
As for the “Love the Philippines” campaign, I am not so confident that it is still salvageable given the taint of misrepresentation and bad faith.