MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Tourism on Thursday unveiled a new advertisement music video that features the culture and tradition of the Philippines in just a minute.
The new ad which is also a music video of “ABaKaDa,” a rap song written in collaboration with and performed by Curtismith, aptly promotes the rich heritage and culture of the country using ABaKaDa or the Filipino alphabet.
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It managed to feature 20 unique cultural facts about the country represented by each letter of the local alphabet, making it the 20-letter guide to Philippine culture.
The “A” in ABaKaDa, stands for abacca accessories “that many can admire for its beauty and sustainability.
The “Ba,” on the other hand, represents “barefoot bounding while dancing the Tinikling” while Ka means “Kinetic kali combat showcasing the country’s national martial arts.”
According to DOT, “DA” is for documenting the diving experience in the diving-site-rich country while “E” is for eating Filipino cuisines.
Meanwhile, “Ga” is attributed to Filipino art galleries also featured in the videos while “Ha” means hand-weaving and “I,” “La” and “Ma” are for “island vibes,” “lakes and lilies” and “mountain rides in Ifugao,” respectively.
Finally, “Na” is for “ngumiti ng ngumiti” which means to “keep on smiling.”
ABaKaDa lyrics also showcase the various Philippine symbols and activities such as “oratories of Filipinos, polo and prints using pineapple fabrics, rondallas rhythm and river rafting, street dancing, tribal tattoos, the underground caves, and the wild and warm welcome of the locals, immersing tourists to the exceptional Filipino hospitality.”
ABaKaDa culture video is one of the 10 tourism campaign videos of the DOT highlighting the country’s tourism products.
Other videos include feature on sun and beach, nature and adventure, leisure and entertainment, MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferencing, Exhibitions), culinary, education (English as a Second Language), cruise, health and wellness, and dive.
All of these are eyed to lure more foreign tourists to the country and boost domestic travels.
Aside from these ten advertisement videos, it also crafted 16 tourism videos focusing on several destinations of each region to “immerse tourists in the stories of every region.”
More upcoming campaigns
Likewise, the DOT partnered with the Film Development Council of the Philippines “to promote the country in the international film industry.”
Dubbed as the “Film Philippines” program, the tourism department seeks to attract foreign film productions to hold location shoots in the country.
The Culture Campaign of the DOT came a year after it launched the refreshed crowd-sourced “It's More Fun in the Philippines” campaign.
According to Howard Lance Uyking, DOT Assistant Secretary for Branding and Marketing, since its primary campaign is crowd-sourced, the agency will also launch another crowdsourcing campaign this summer called “Go Create Getaway.”
This campaign/competition would encourage tourists to become content creators and vloggers with prizes awaiting them while also promoting the Philippines.
“This will be launched around April,” Uyking shared during the Cutlure Campaign launch.
The Philippines is eyeing to have 9.2 million international tourist arrivals this year, the highest target after breaching the eighth millionth mark in 2019.