Product before promotions

When it comes to promoting Philippine tourism, the authorities should take a leaf from the books of the late Peter Drucker. He was the most influential management guru of the century and known for saying that the aim of marketing is to make selling superfluous. Indeed, any business student knows that marketing covers four areas: product, price, place, promotion. Regrettably, the government and others in the tourism sector use an approach that focuses mainly on promotion and neglects the rest. They need to focus more on the product.

As a product, the Philippines has much to offer to tourists and other travelers, as evidenced by the tourism sector’s contributions. According to the World Tourism and Travel Council (WTTC), the total contribution is about $60.1 billion or 19.7 percent of the gross domestic product in 2016. That is forecast to rise by 7.8 percent next year and by 5.3 percent annually from 2017 to 2027. The total contribution to job generation in 2016 was 18.1 percent of total employment or about 7.4 million jobs.