The brand new tourism campaign was launched last week by the Department of Tourism and taking advantage of Social Networks like Facebook and Twitter, the “It’s more fun in the Philippines” campaign immediately went viral.



Tourism growth*

(*Why 3 million is not something to be happy about)



Taking a deeper look into tourism in the Philippines, one wonders why the country is still behind Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia which surpass the annual 20 million tourists mark. While tourism is growing in numbers, I found a couple of articles explaining why this is so. One of which is that that the WOW Philippines campaign was not well received in Germany and Japan where people were having difficulty pronouncing it. But statistics from the DOT show that foreign tourists grew from Japan and Germany during the period where the campaign was used? (See above infographic).



Some critics claim that lack of transportation, including the reputation of having the “world’s worst airport” yet we see an increasing trend in tourism (aside from the dip in 2009 probably due to the global economic down turn?). Some claim security concerns like kidnappings and travel alerts issued against the Philippines yet we see the same increase in tourism growth. In fact, despite the negative publicity of the Hong Kong bus hijacking from last year, it seems that tourists are still pouring in.



Additionally, tourist arrivals are simply that: arrivals. The bigger question is how much do these foreign tourists bring in to the Philippine economy? Look at it this way, when 300 people visit your store, how many of those translate into sales? How many were so happy of their purchase that they decide to come back?



It’s all about the experience



So the question still remains, why is tourism lagging in the Philippines? After discussing with several sources the most popular excuses are:



1. Lack of Marketing/Advertising (To pull tourists in)

2. Lack of Infrastructure (To let tourists stay and get around)

3. Security Concerns (Bad press, kidnappings, etc.)



However one needs to realize that Tourism is an “experience”, we’re selling an experience here, in fact we’re selling Philippines as the most fun thing on earth. So here’s some things we can probably take a look at:



1. Quality of tourism product (How authentic is it? Are we too “market oriented”? How do we ensure that tourists have more fun?)

2. The way businesses are treated as they are approached in industrial settings (Are we promoting enterprises who can make the visitor experiences richer and more memorable or penalizing them?)

3. Non-consideration of impacts on host communities and immediate environment (This is important because the long term implication might destroys the immediate source of resource and identity of the place not to mention the attraction that pulls the visitors to the place).



A long way to go



So where are we left now? Well the improvements in the airports, security and the campaigns are a good start, but one really needs to take a look at deeper, underlying and longer impacting considerations that help ensure that it is going to be more fun in the Philippines in the years to come.



Special thanks to Chard Gonzalo for providing insights to this article.

What are you eating this Holiday season… and how do you plan to counter it?


Note: Material used in the infographic from various sources.

I started collecting the Starbucks City Mug when I first traveled out of the country in 1998 which started with the Hong Kong 1994 City mug series. It grew to 82 mugs and I’m hoping to finish off the Philippine series which is currently missing Philippines, Davao and Iloilo. I generally collect from places I’ve been to but some of the mugs are gifts (9 mugs) and some are “pasalubong” requests (11 mugs).



By Row:

(2008 Icon Mini Series) Philippines, Manila, (1994 City Mug Mini Series)
Manila, Baguio, Cebu, Tagaytay, The Peak, Stanley, Ngong Ping, Star Ferry



A Starbucks Toy Truck from Japan, (2008 Icon Series) Baguio, Naga, Cebu, Tagaytay, Bacolod, Boracay, Batangas



(2008 Icon Series) Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Gold Coast, Australia, Pampanga, Cagayan de Oro, Manila



(2008 Icon Series) Seoul, Taiwan, Taipei, Tianjin, Macau, Hong Kong, Beijing, China



(2008 Icon Series) Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Singapore, Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Sabah, Penang



(2008 Icon Series) California, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Waikiki, Austin, Washington DC, New York



(2008 Icon Series) Philadelphia, Thailand, Chiangmai, Bangkok, Bali, Osaka, Kyoto, Tokyo



(2006 Architecture Series) Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Seattle, Toronto, (1994 City Mug Series) Baguio, Cebu, Tagaytay, Manila



(1994 City Mug Series) Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Taipei, China, (2004 Art Deco Style Series) Los Angeles, (Artsy Design SEries) Hawaii, (Coffee Origin Mugs) Sulawesi



(1994 City Mug Series) Germany, Stuttgart, Dusseldorf, Freiburg, Heidelberg, Berlin, Paris, Bali

We received a lot of questions, comments and reactions about The cost of the Starbucks 2012 Planners. So we updated our infographic based on the suggestions and corrections and of course added some new information.



Note: Starbucks is a registered trademark of Starbucks Co.

Financials, Nutritional Information and images used for the infographic are taken from the Starbucks website.

A lot of people ask me, how much it would cost to collect the Starbucks 2012 Planners. The cheapest way to do this is via Option 1 – collecting 9 Featured beverages (a Short Peppermint Mocha is only Php140.00) and 8 Core beverages (a Short Brewed Coffee is only Php95.00Php85.00). This would cost around Php2,020.00Php1,940.00 compared to Php2,185.00Php1,955.00 for Option 2.



You could further save Php85.00 by bringing your own mug and getting a Php5.00 discount for each purchase bringing your overall cost to Php1,935.00Php1,855.00. That will still cost you Php9,675.00Php9,275.00 to collect all 5 variants of the planner by January 8.



Note: Starbucks is a registered trademark of Starbucks Co.

Financials and images for the infographic are taken from the Starbucks website.

The red cups are back at Starbucks and the two classic Christmas flavors – Toffee Nut Latte and Peppermint Mocha – are joined by the fruity Cranberry White Chocolate Mocha.



Starbucks Planners are also back with 5 variants for the 2012 edition and Starbucks is giving customers two options to complete each of the 5 planners this year:



Option 1 Purchase 9 featured beverages AND 8 core beverages.

Option 2 Purchase 23 core beverages.



You have until January 8 to complete those stickers.