Tourists love our mix, spontaneity, food and tolerance

Getting the VMY 2020 logo is just one small effort. How many of us have seen, and remember, the logo? Is that the best we can do? Is that the sum total of our creativity? We must be bold, creative and exciting. Be outrageous if we have to!

Somehow, I get the feeling that we have not done much, or enough, in promoting VMY 2020. Is there any sustainable promotion overseas? China? Japan? Europe? Our Asean neighbours?

If you look at the social media platforms, there are endless tourism promotion advertisements or campaigns. I mean promotions of other countries as a favourite destination. India with the tagline Incredible India and Amazing Thailand are two of the ones I remember most. There’s also Wonderful Indonesia while the Philippines carries the tagline “It’s more fun in the Philippines”. Singapore has “Passion made Possible”, but I’m not excited by it.

Taglines are taglines, okay? Some are old. They are so dated, and look and feel tired. Taglines alone won’t bring in the tourists with the deep pockets.

What is important are the tourism products and the hospitality of the host country. Do we smile enough? Say thank you? Have clean toilets? Are our taxi drivers polite and helpful? Do we make our guests feel welcomed? The dirty toilets are a big downer, really. It’s a shame.

I believe, given the right approach, we can all say thank you and smile more. And we always hear foreign tourists praising our country. They love the mix, spontaneity, food, and the tolerance.