Incoming Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez
MANILA, Philippines – Incoming Tourism Secretary Ramon “Mon” Jimenez vowed to make Philippine tourism the “people’s business” and that the country with its picturesque destinations would be “easy to sell as Chickenjoy”.
Speaking to Malacañang reporters in a press conference aired live on radio and television less than 24 hours after President Benigno Aquino III announced his appointment, Jimenez, an advertising executive, said he would “galvanize the DoT [Department of Tourism] into an honest to goodness selling unit whose “ultimate goal” would be “not only to improve statistics but also ensure that the endeavor would be fulfilling and profitable for Filipinos”.
He said that the Philippines, with its picturesque destinations, should be “as easy to sell as Chickenjoy”, referring to a food item on the menu of a popular Filipino food chain.
But in the same breath, Jimenez said that what the industry needed was a “real insight into the market place” as advertising was “not only about slogans.
He said that he intended to take off from where his predecessor Alberto Lim had left off – mount a campaign that was “truly progressive and aggressive”.
Jimenez founded Publicis JimenezBasic and heads the Winning Over Obstacles (WOO) Communications Corporation.
Lim’s resignation took effect Wednesday, August 31.