Does the official Philippine tourism promotional video feature Indonesian and Thai scenery? Philippine Tourism Bureau urgently delisted and launched an investigation into the Philippines | Tourism Bureau | Indonesia
According to the Independent on July 2nd, the Philippine Tourism Board recently launched an official tourism promotional video, in which a Filipino blogger pointed out that the multiple locations featured in the video are not the Philippines at all, but landscapes from countries such as Indonesia, Brazil, and Thailand. At present, the Philippine tourism department has taken down the video.
Indonesian terraced fields featured in promotional videos
Philippine blogger Sas Rogando Sassot pointed out in a Facebook post that tourism promotional videos feature Indonesian rice terraces, Brazilian sand dunes, and scenes of Thai lakes.
It is reported that on June 27th, the Philippine Tourism Authority released a tourism promotional event with the theme of "Falling in Love with the Philippines", which cost $900000. This promotional video was produced for the event.
After being pointed out by the blogger, the Philippine Tourism Board removed the promotional video.
The advertising company responsible for producing the promotional video urgently issued a statement apologizing on July 2, admitting that the mistake was caused by negligence. "The use of foreign materials in Philippine tourism promotion is very inappropriate and contradicts the promotional purpose of the Tourism Bureau."
The Philippine Tourism Administration stated that it will investigate the alleged use of non original footage. The tourism bureau also stated that no public funds were used to produce the film, and it was only released after confirming multiple times with the advertising company that the film was not problematic.