Tourism Undersecretary for planning and promotions Vicente "Enteng" Romano III said the Department of Tourism (DOT) has "alotted P60 million to P100 million for digital strategy or new media promotions." In an email interview with GMANews.TV, Romano said the budget allocation will go towards:
developing the DOT website; search engine optimization; social networking; the establishment of an industry linkage platform; online advertising; and special projects. "(Social networking) will be an important component of all our campaigns, both offline and online. Pinoys are among the heavy users of Facebook and Twitter, and we see the Pinoy online communities as both target and partner in promoting the Philippines," he said. According to industry watchdogs, the Philippines is known for the following: having the eighth largest population of Facebook users; having the twelfth largest percentage of Twitter users in the world, and having the heaviest consumption of SMS messages worldwide. Romano explained that the agency aims to develop a "search" system to make it easy for tourists to look for resorts, hotels, transport providers, tour operators, and other businesses in the local tourism industry. "The idea is to try to make it as easy as possible for would-be travelers to book everything online after being excited by what they see," he said. Romano also hinted that the DOT is eyeing the development of social games "ala Farmville" to promote the country's tourist destinations. However, he did not give specific details. Before Romano was sworn in as tourism undersecretary, he formerly headed the new media team that oversaw the online components of President Benigno Simeon Aquino III's successful presidential campaign. "With the new administration, there seems to be a heightened sense of patriotism, and as a consequence –a heightened spirit of volunteerism," he noted. "For example, even without our prodding, there was a twitter-based campaign initiated by volunteers (helpDOT) which they called 'Voluntourism,'" he noted. "We just need to come out with programs and campaigns that will harness all of this goodwill," he concluded. Prior to joining the Aquino government, Romano was known as a staunch critic of previous administrations. Following the disclosure of former President Joseph Estrada's Jueteng racket in 2000, Romano led an online signature campaign for the former's resignation via the now-defunct eLagda.com website. Romano was also one of the lead convenors of the Black and White Movement, a civil society organization formed at the height of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's "Hello Garci" scandal in 2005. In the private sector, Romano has over two decades of IT experience and has held several top-level technical, management, and marketing positions. - VVP, GMANews.TV 
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