The Department of Tourism (DOT) has partnered with popular communications platform Viber to promote its "Kain Na!" (Let’s Eat!) Food and Trade Festival, which will showcase the bright spots of the country's food and farm tourism industries.
"We at the DOT are very happy with this partnership as this will not only help us promote the festival but also promote our food and farm tourism merchants as well," Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat said in a statement on Friday, July 9.
"With the decision to finally ease quarantine restrictions again, we are hopeful to see a faster recovery in the Philippine tourism scene," she added.
Through the partnership, Puyat said food and farm tourism merchants endorsed by the DOT from all over the country can also join the Viber FoodPH bot—the official food directory on the Viber app—to help boost their presence online.
Rakuten Viber Business Development Manager Veronica Feleo emphasized how the mobile app can help businesses engage with their customers and strengthen their services amid the pandemic.
"Viber also supports businesses that utilize the platform to reach out to customers. Viber’s FoodPH is just the start of our partnership with merchants not only to promote their products but also allow others to create great food experiences," Feleo said during a virtual session on food tourism last month.
The hybrid food and travel festival, carried out in partnership with Ayala Malls, offered an array of digital events along with the presence of physical booths to promote the products and services under food and farm tourism.
As part of efforts to further boost the country's food tourism, the DOT earlier partnered with video-sharing app TikTok and launched its #SarapMagingPinoy ("It's good to be Pinoy") campaign. The campaign's aim is to promote local recipes and Filipino culture.