Nelson Morales

DOT beefs up domestic tourism with Discover More to Love, TikTok

Article (news)

Jekki Pascual

ABS-CBN News

<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/17827353651861782735363723.jpeg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960" alt="Tourism Secretary Dita Angara-Mathay talks about the agency&#x27;s plans during a briefing with journalists. Jekki Pascual, ABS-CBN News"/>Tourism Secretary Dita Angara-Mathay talks about the agency&#x27;s plans during a briefing with journalists. Jekki Pascual, ABS-CBN News</div>MANILA — The Philippine Department of Tourism said they want to further beef up domestic tourism with the newly launched “Discover More to Love” campaign as well as partnerships with social media sites like TikTok.Tourism Secretary Dita Angara-Mathay said the new campaign will not replace ‘Love the Philippines’ national slogan, but that the new campaign will focus on domestic tourism. She said they have partnered with various travel groups and companies to offer affordable packages in local destinations.“I don’t want to spend money on changing the slogan because I was trying precisely to avoid the inclination of people to say we’re better than the last one,” she said on why there is no need to replace ‘Love the Philippines’.She said one way to bring down costs is to bundle the tourism services into packages and these are now offered by various travel groups. She admitted that domestic travel can be very expensive and they are looking at ways to help lower the costs.“We can’t control now travel inflation. I talked to 3 airlines already and I researched. The airlines can’t really put prices down kasi 80 percent of their cost is fuel. You can’t argue with that. But what we can do is we can offer them incentives for route development, like waive landing fees, but that’s not enough,” she added.One way to beef up domestic tourism is also to use social media. Angara-Mathay recalled that before she used travel guidebooks and physical maps, now people are using social media for travel tips and information. DOT has now partnered with TikTok for the Wanderlust Week, a travel mini series that’s creator-driven. The series brings viewers to Manila, Cebu, and Siargao and were done by creators from the Philippines, Malaysia, and Thailand.“You really see real creators, real people with real experiences and it’s become the place where people do their research. Ano maganda gawin, ano maganda kainin, saan ok pumunta,” said Yves Gonzales, Tiktok’s Head of Public Policy for the Philippines.Angara-Mathay added that using social media is now one of the most effective ways to communicate and promote the Philippines. But she said more than just promoting, the DOT will also help improve the industry by pushing for more infrastructure and to lower costs of tourism.

The Tourism department has partnered with various travel groups and companies to offer affordable packages in local destinations.

The Tourism department has partnered with various travel groups and companies to offer affordable packages in local destinations.