Comments on: How would you rate the DOT Philippines website?

By: Fate

Fate — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 17:48:22 +0000

I am just wondering if the Department of Tourism Team had actually worked in the tourism industry before like as travel agents, hotel sales and marketing managers or tour guides… because it seems like the people who created this website hates traveling and love to stay in the office thus the website has more information on statistics rather than where to find the best diving spot or best halo-halo in the country!

Honestly if I have friends visiting our country I send them links of my favorite blogs for information on where to eat, sleep, drink and have incredible experiences in the Philippines.

The saddest part is not just the DOT website. Truth is a lot of Travel Companies do not feature Philippines in their South East Asia brochure. I have only seen Palawan but that’s because there’s a luxury resort there.

I view DOT as our ultimate Sales and Marketing team to promote our country. It’s about time they hire qualified Sales people and not just marketing people…

By: vermouth

vermouth — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 20:33:10 +0000

The thing is, even though the Philippine website is decidedly inferior to HK’s, Thailand’s or Malaysia’s, these three aren’t even what I’d call really good! I agree with atbnorway that uncluttered is best. Consider:

https://www.goteborg.com/en/
https://www.visitberlin.de/en

I feel like the jump from being “kulelat” to being the best should be straightforward enough. I do not doubt that there are a lot of excellent Filipino web designers. What I would suggest is tap those UP Fine Arts or UST-CFAD (or really, any university) students to design for a tourism website as a class project. You’d get lots of good ideas, and for free!

We used to do tourism ads well too. I love these: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsBUz6qu_Bo

As for tourism itself and what we can do to improve it, I feel deserves a whole new blog post. :)

By: MP

MP — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 08:44:31 +0000

Aileen, your suggestion makes perfect sense. One can only hope that our DOT officers pay heed to suggestions from citizens whose only desire is to boost local toursim and encourage the rest of the world to realize what we have to offer.

Sur, I doubt people decide to visit a country based on what they read/see on official websites. However, when I make my travel plans, I definitely check out a country’s official tourism website to determine what places to check out. Most of the time, I already have an indicative travel plan (based on what I know/heard about the place) and then I add places of interest to my itinerary based on info from the website.

By: laughinghyenna

laughinghyenna — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 07:57:53 +0000

I think the department has to, once and for all, decide what is the objective of the site. Is it to sell the country to tourists and investors, or is it to grandstand their “achievements” or whatever they want to call it.

By: present tense

present tense — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 01:39:58 +0000

MM, you being a finance man, maybe you can tell us the fair market value of the various options on the table…i prefer to consider your perceived references in real terms – meaning table charges and ‘under the table charges” Subjective or not – i believe this is still free speech and whose circumstances are protected by law…Questions on : how long and how much to accomplish this and what’s the cost benefit ? Who are the actors and what role will they play ? Who will benefit and what is the cost of benefit ? What are the stages involved and how long do they play out before the next policy change – or the next election. Sir I feel i have an understanding feeling for issues comprehensive enough for readership value but when u scratch my back, then i scratch yours. We obviously are aware of the actors…We are aware of the mistakes but not the extent…

By: sur

sur — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 21:14:50 +0000

might we be giving too much credence to these national tourism sites as compelling ‘drawers’ to potential visits to a country? in my travels i cannot ever remember relying on any country’s website as they tend, as a rule, to be messy barrage of info. pages designed by committees and touting over-contrived promises of paradise. low believe-ability. which is a turn-off. [i regret just once finding out at the airport in santiago, chile that all US citizens would have to pay a hefty entry tax– but i wasnt about to board another ft back to BsAs accross a bumpy bumbpy ride over the andes…]

thumbs down on all the sites- good exhibits all that more is not necessarily more. but i would vote for cambodia’s as the least headache-inducing site.

;-)

By: pinkytab

pinkytab — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 18:26:02 +0000

The website caters more for people who want to do business in the Phil. not sightsee. Might as well advertise for mail order brides.

By: Aileen

Aileen — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 16:44:59 +0000

Hi jakespeed and MP. Knowing now that other countries charge foreigners more than locals still doesn’t make me feel less ripped off, however, the DOT should take this cue and perhaps negotiate a special rate with local hotels. One idea would be if a hotel is booked through the DOT website, then one could avail of the local rates. I am sure this would drive more traffic into the DOT website. Just an idea:)

By: jade186

jade186 — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 10:44:37 +0000

Mainland China also has this policy of charging the locals less than foreigners – and the price differentials are really wide. There are also hotels that do not accept foreigners as guests – just locals – and this by law that the are not allowed to do so.

Why doesn’t the DOT just retain the wowphilippines theme and logo? They’re just wasting time and resources trying to figure out a new one when the old formula works well – perhaps just needs a bit of polishing of some sort.

By: MP

MP — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 08:29:16 +0000

Hi Aileen and jakespeed, if I remember correctly, Indonesia also charges lower rates to locals and expats that have kitas (residence visas) to encourage local tourism and of course, to boost tourism earnings. They reckon tourists have money to burn anyway… maybe this is also the reason why we do the same in the Phil? Whether it is legal or not is another question, although I think pricing/rate-establishment is not regulated in the Phil (not sure about this).

Aileen, I ask my friends to book for me so I can avail of the lower rate and then present my driver’s license (which I renew regularly as we go home every year anyway) when asked for identification.