TikTok, world’s leading destination for short-form mobile videos, forges partnership with the Department of Tourism (DOT) to promote and showcase the beauty of the Philippines to the platform’s global audience. DOT is the first government agency to partner with TikTok and names the platform as its co-branding partner for its signature campaign: It’s More Fun in the Philippines.

The partnership was sealed with the Signing of the Memorandum of Agreement between Donny Eryastha, TikTok Head of Public Policy for the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia,  and Howard Lance Uyking, DOT Assistant Secretary for Branding and Marketing Communications at the Manila Hotel on December 12, 2019. 

The partnership serves as the pilot programme in the Philippines for #TikTokTravel, a global campaign launched by TikTok across 90 countries worldwide. #TikTokTravel is an initiative that aims to inspire users to creatively capture and share their favourite travel moments. 

With a global presence across 154 countries, TikTok hopes the campaign will serve as a springboard to introduce various travel moments to social media fans, from breath-taking scenery to inspirational cultural heritage, from seeing to experiencing, and from recording to sharing – all on mobile. 

As part of the partnership, DOT will launch its official account and a hashtag challenge early next year. TikTok will support the account verification and boost the official video of the challenge and will be endorsed by its popular creators.

In line with this, TikTok creators were also introduced during the event to advocate local tourism as part of the global campaign #TikTokTravel.

Creators who attended the partnership launch were: Mikoy Uy, Sai Datinguinoo, Jiro Morato, Lennie Enverga, Chierald Tan, Simon Javier, Cassie Barrameda, Alyssa Profeta, Shane Buhat, and TikTok All-Stars Champion for Talent, Yanyan de Jesus. Other popular creators are expected to join and promote these initiatives.

“After the successful global launch of TikTok Travel back in June 2019, TikTok comes full circle in localization in the Philippines as it officially partners with the Department of Tourism and promote its long-time on-going tourism slogan: It’s More Fun in the Philippines. By showcasing the beauty and wonders of the Philippines through the lens of users and influential creators, TikTok embraces cultural and geographical diversity as it transcends boundaries. With a raw, unfiltered glimpse of the people, culture and places, TikTok brings to life the deeper meaning behind each destination,” said Eryastha.

“With this partnership with TikTok, the DOT is poised to reach this important and increasingly discriminating audience, as we tell the story of our wonderful destinations, rich culture, and amazing people–in a music-enhanced, filter-filled, and most ambitious way. The TikTok platform has popularized numerous lip-sync memes and dance challenges—which are, of course, among the things we Filipinos just love to do. I have no doubt our nation’s creative minds can make our 7,641 islands “go viral” on the world wide web. And with that, I’d like to challenge everyone to travel the country, whip out your phones, and capture in 15 seconds why “It’s more fun in the Philippines,” said Uyking.

Embracing the spirit of TikTok, the #TikTokTravel campaign transcends boundaries and celebrates diversity. By empowering people to quickly and easily capture and share moments that matter in their lives from their smartphones, TikTok has become increasingly popular for showcasing authentic travel moments, with almost 400,000 videos under the #TikTokTravel hashtag and a total of 5.6 billion views and counting. These videos range from creators interacting with nature in various ways to immersing themselves in different cultures such as tasting street food, to trying their hand at uniquely local experiences.

TikTok’s partnership with DOT is just the beginning of more initiatives to extend the platform to advocacies that gives meaning to everything that everyone is passionate about.

This campaign is proudly supported by GetGo.

ADVT