GENERAL SANTOS CITY -- The provincial government of South Cotabato has adopted the tagline “Land of the Dreamweavers” as the official brand for its tourism promotion and marketing campaigns.
Cesar Sulit Jr., South Cotabato senior tourism operations officer, said Wednesday the move is mainly aimed to enhance the local government’s continuing efforts to develop the province as a top cultural and ecotourism destination in the country.
He said the new brand is a tribute to the province’s tribal “dreamweavers” and the famed T’nalak fabric.
T’nalak is a traditional craft of the T’boli tribe, which is based in the municipalities of T’boli and Lake Sebu, featuring unique designs inspired by the dreams of women weavers.
The province holds the T’nalak Festival every July as part of its foundation anniversary celebration.
To complement the tourism brand, Sulit said they also adopted “South Cotabato, Our Home, Now Your Destination” as official slogan.
The new tourism brand and slogan were conceptualized by the local government’s arts, culture, tourism and museum promotions unit, he said.
“These represent the core of our tourism promotion and marketing campaign as well as what our province wants to achieve for the tourism sector,” Sulit said.
He said they have initially prepared audio-visual presentations and other related materials to help mainstream the new tourism brand and slogan.
These will be included later on in the province’s official communication and tourism promotional materials like brochures and posters, he said.
South Cotabato Gov. Daisy Avance-Fuentes, who had endorsed the new tourism brand and slogan, expressed hopes that they would help bring the province’s tourism campaign to new levels.
She acknowledged that the local government needs to strengthen its tourism campaigns to offset the impact of the continuing conflict in parts of Mindanao.
“We need to strive more because of martial law and with the negative perception about our place,” she said.
Fuentes said the province’s recent achievements would be put to waste if these are not addressed properly.
The province was adjudged last month by the National Competitiveness Council as the country’s second most competitive province.
It improved a notch higher after landing third in 2016.(PNA)
