It’s More Fun in the Philippines : True That!

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Because of work and schedule conflicts last year, 2011, I wasn’t able to travel to anywhere in the Philippines. We had a couple of plans for out-of-town trips, but they all ended up being cancelled at the very last minute. This year, though, I swore I will travel more.

I may be not as outdoorsy as most travelers, but I do love discovering new places, taking a vacation away from work or anything stressful. Even when we went to a five-day vacation where we visited 4 destinations ala Amazing Race (starts here) and we all ended up dead tired afterwards, we all had a wonderful time and it made me realize how much I love travelling. And this year, I won’t let anything stop me from doing so. And I’m already signing up a couple of my friends to join me. ;)

This is exactly why I’m in full support of the new campaign of the Department of Tourism – It’s More Fun in the Philippines. It is indeed a great conversation starter and I consider it a challenge for us Filipinos to prove or show the world how true that statement is. And this is also one of the reasons why I want to travel around the Philippines first before I head on out of the country.

A large majority of foreigners who have been in the Philippines, met a Filipino, and/or have experienced our culture would agree that there are a lot of activities that are more fun in the Philippines. I was reading the Twitter feeds earlier in support of the campaign (#ItsMoreFunInThePhilippines and #1ForFun) and there were a ton of interesting responses. Here are some of them and a couple that I thought of earlier:

• Asia without the language barrier because even those who weren’t able to go to school can understand or speak in basic English. Plus, all our street signs are in English.
• Our ability to smile even when we’re stressed or when we feel like the whole world’s upon our shoulders. This is one of the reasons why, I think, we don’t have a lot of practicing shrinks / therapists here.
• The family ties and how we value our bloodlines - amazing.
• The long celebration of Christmas and New Year – one of the many reasons why Pinoys abroad do their best to come home during these holidays.
• Generally, how we celebrate anything.
• The beaches, the historic places, the mountains, the sceneries at our tourist spots – breath-taking!
• The food – sinigang, adobo, kare-kare, tinola, LECHON.. I could go on and on, but I might end up eating before going to bed. LOL
• Videoke – We LOVE our videoke. We love singing that’s why most Pinoys you’d meet can carry a tune and aren’t that tone-deaf.
• Our complexion that most people from Western countries envy.
• The words of respect - “po” and “opo”, “kuya”, “ate”.
• The intense support we give to our countrymen who excel in different fields / industries, or even in music (Charice, for instance) or sports (like Manny Pacquiao).
• Bargain shopping – Greenhills, Gilmore, Bambang, Ukay-ukay, Divisoria – need I say more?
• Social media – we love our Twitter and Facebook, alright. Give us something you want to go viral on the web and we’ll do it while having fun. :)

I can think of more reasons why it’s more fun here in the Philippines just to remind you if in case you’re one of the haters of this campaign.

I’ve read negative comments about the slogan, some continuously mocking the idea saying it’s not original (because of a 60+ old ad from Switzerland using the “It’s more fun…” tagline), that they should’ve removed the “more” part, and some even mentioning the flaws of our country, our culture and the people. I mean, c’mon. SERIOUSLY? We always complain about crab mentality and that’s a PERFECT example right there.

This is a campaign to promote TOURISM in our country. Can’t we, even for a brief period of time, focus on the positive and actual FUN things about the Philippines, about being a Filipino and about living here?!

What’s worse is most of the people I see who are too vocal about the flaws of the Philippines are FILIPINOS.  *sigh* Really? Do you think the bad outweighs the good about our country? I mean, c’mon! For sure you can think of at least TEN things that are MORE FUN in the Philippines. Stop and think about it. That might change your mind. If you can’t think of any (what’s wrong with you?!), read through all the tweets of support - #ItsMoreFunInThePhilippines and #1ForFun.

I’m pretty sure majority of Filipinos here and abroad are well aware of the flaws of our country. But, please. We can always say bad things about everything since nothing and no one’s perfect. There are times that it’s better and MORE FUN to, even for a little while, look at the brighter side. It’s less stressful, trust me.

>>> Read this interesting commentary by Ted Te <<<

>>> Some think #It’sMoreFunToBash – I disagree <<<

 

VIRAL SUPPORT through PHOTOS

I’ve seen a lot of interesting photos shared by people on my network showcasing a ton of things to do and places that are more fun in the Philippines. Here are some of my favorites

Of course, this one’s a favorite – Blogging. More fun in the Philippines, made by Fitz Villafuerte. I’m in the photo somewhere. :)

So true. McDonald’s here can’t beat Jollibee. Even Pinoys who leave the country miss it a LOT.

Another one I found on one of the many FB pages made for the campaign. That’s the Tarsier you’d find in Bohol. :)

Here are my new favorites, made by Roland Benzon (see album here), most photos from Mon Corpuz. I LOVE the double entendre.. :)

It’s just wonderful that the new slogan for the DOT campaign is bringing out our creativity. Want to create your own FUN campaign poster / photo? Well, I wanted to so I went looking for the font they used for the campaign banner and I luckily found it on one of the many Facebook group pages that was created for the said tagline.

What font was used in the It’s More Fun in the Philippines campaign ? It’s Harabara, which you can download for free from dafont.

I’ve already thought of a couple of ideas for my own posters for this and I’ll post it next time. :)

What do you think of the campaign? Feel free to share your thoughts and ideas for the “It’s more fun in the Philippines” campaign. :)

Visit the links below for more info or to show your support:

• It’s More Fun in the Philippines website
• Facebook page for the campaign – I think this is the official FB page.