Boracay, arguably the crown jewel of Philippine tourism (Unsplash)

A friendly advice to the Department of Tourism (DOT): Ditch "shotgun marketing" in favor of "rifle marketing". 

Quezon City 4th district Rep. Marvin Rillo believes that through a more targeted marketing campaign, the Department of Tourism (DOT) would be able to "sell" the Philippines as a preferred destination to foreign holidayseekers and as a hub for international meetings, conventions, and exhibitions. 

“We would urge the DOT to consider shifting to rifle marketing – as opposed to shotgun marketing – and to concentrate on our top five suppliers of foreign visitors, namely South Korea, the United States, Japan, China, and Australia,” Rillo, vice chairman of the House c
Committee on Tourism, said in a statement on Monday, Oct. 30. 

“Rifle marketing” targets individual markets, whereas “shotgun marketing” aims for the entire global market regardless of specific corners. 

“We want the DOT to succeed in bringing in a larger number of foreign visitors because their spending here contributes in a big way to creating new employment opportunities for Filipinos in accommodation, transport, food and beverage services, entertainment, and other economic activities,” said the rookie solon. 

According to Rillo, the DOT plans to spend another P1.26 billion next year to advertise the Philippines to prospective foreign visitors. 

“The sum of P1.26 billion has been earmarked for the Tourism Promotions Fund (TPF) in the 2024 National Expenditure Program (NEP),” said the solon, also a member of the Committee on Appropriations. 

The TPF is being funded by 25 percent of the national government’s share from the earnings of the state-run Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) and 25 percent of the national government’s share from international airport and seaport revenue collections, Rillo said. 

The TPF has an allocation of P1.16 billion in the 2023 General Appropriations Act (GAA) or current national budget. 

DOT figures submitted to Congress showed that a total of 4,038,370 foreign residents arrived in the Philippines from January to September this year. 

Excluding Philippine passport holders who are permanent residents abroad, the top 10 foreign visitor arrivals in the nine-month period, by nationality, were South Korean- 1,064,077 (26.35 percent); American- 715,744 (17.72 percent); Japanese- 220,604 (5.46 percent); Chinese- 207,932 (5.15 percent); Australian- 182,460 (4.52 percent); Canadian- 170,354 (4.22 percent); Taiwanese- 142,406 (3.53 percent); British- 127,354 (3.15 percent); Malaysian- 76,971 (1.91 percent); and Singaporean- 71,945 (1.78 percent).