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The Philippines is banking on South Korea to give local tourism a shot in the arm amid all the brouhaha caused by the Department of Tourism's (DOT) controversial "Love the Philippines" campaign.

This, as Quezon City 4th district Rep. Marvin Rillo expressed high hopes on Tuesday, July 11 for South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s visit to the Philippines later this year in terms of its effects on tourism.

“South Korea has been the Philippines’ No. 1 supplier of foreign visitors for years, and we are counting on Mr. Yoon’s visit to encourage even more Koreans to spend their vacations here,” said Rillo, who is a vice chairman of the House Committee on Tourism.

"We could use a larger number of recreational travelers from South Korea to help our highly labor-intensive tourism industry create additional jobs for Filipinos,” he said.

The rookie solon made the statement even as the DOT is embroiled in a controversy over the use of foreign stock footage in the Love the Philippines promotional video. This was viewed by many as a big no-no, since the entire point of the campaign was to promote local tourism.

The DOT has since terminated the services of the project contractor, DDB Philippines.

The South Korean leader’s plan to visit the Philippines was conveyed by Lee Sang-Hwa, Seoul’s new ambassador to Manila, when he presented his credentials to President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. in Malacañang Palace on Monday, July 10.

“Mr. Yoon’s visit will surely boost not only the government-to-government, but also the people-to-people relations between the Philippines and South Korea. This augurs well for our tourism sector,” Rillo said.

From January to June 2023, a total of 673,841 South Koreans visited the Philippines. They accounted for a quarter or 25 percent of the 2,470,798 foreigners that traveled to the Philippines in the first semester, based on DOT statistics.

A total of 1,989,322 South Koreans traveled to the Philippines in 2019 – the year before the Covid-19 pandemic struck the country. They accounted for 24 percent of the 8,188,477 foreigners that arrived in the Philippines that year.