Senator Nancy Binay finds the Department of Tourism's allocation for market study and research for their rebranding campaign "questionable" as the launching of the new "Love the Philippines" was already done.

In a statement on Wednesday, Binay lamented that a funding request for a tourism market study "should have been done" before the controversial "Love the Philippines" campaign video and slogan was released to the public.

Binay was pertaining to the DOT's request of P30 million for its "Strategy, Research and Overall Direction for the Integrated Marketing Communication Campaign" which was part of its P500 million budget proposal for its Branding Campaign Program for 2024.

The senator cited that the agency still has unspent items of the same amount for this year.

Hence, Binay was puzzled by the need for the DOT to provide the same amount of allocation to its 2024 National Expenditure Program.

"A market study should have been done before the launch of the campaign," she stressed.

"Why are you spending P30 million for a study that was supposed to be already done before you launched—I would assume this is the 'Love the Philippines', 'di ba? So anong magiging, kumbaga paa, ano ang magiging backbone for the new branding if there was no strategy research, kasi parang ngayon pa lang kayo mag-aaward ng P30 million for strategy research? So, what is the basis for doing a rebranding when you're still gonna do a strategy research worth P30 million?," Binay asked the DOT.

She said that the shifting to a new campaign would require an overhauling.

"So how can it be that you started a new campaign na—I mean, it seems, because you're awarding P30 million for a strategy research—but parang medyo mali ang order. Hindi ba dapat nauna ang pag-aaral bago tayo nag-relaunch?" she  further asked.

The DOT officials explained that the company it contracted for the "Love the Philippines" campaign "had already conducted a comprehensive study" on customer behavior, trends in travel and tourism post-pandemic, as well as attitudes to travel, including tourism spending.

Binay was again puzzled. Considering that the contractor was already conducting a tourism market study, she said, there's no need for the government to spend for another study "because it would only cause redundant" functions.

"And if that's the case, so dapat alisin na natin ang P30 million," she added.

In terms of tourism arrivals, Binay said the Philippines is now lagging behind its Southeast Asian neighbors that have not rebranded or changed their tourism campaign slogan.

"We're spending P30 million for strategy research, wala pa 'yung placement. And in terms of tourist arrivals, hindi pa rin, compared to our ASEAN neighbors na hindi nagpapalit ng slogan, pero ang taas-taas ng tourist arrivals nila," she added.