PRESIDENT Aquino seems to have made an inspired choice in appointing Ramon Jimenez, a marketing and advertising veteran, as secretary of the Department of Tourism (DOT).

Who better to sell the Philippines’ tourism experiences to the rest of the world than an experienced salesman, one who, as head of the advertising firm Jimenez Basic, helped sell the products of some of the biggest corporations in the country, like San Miguel Corp. and Jollibee.

The President was excited enough to announce Jimenez’s appointment in the middle of his four-day state visit to China.

Business and tourist industry leaders, even those who were critical of the government’s previous tourism efforts (like the Pilipinas Kay Ganda debacle) have not been shy in expressing their satisfaction, if not delight, with the President’s appointment of Jimenez.

Facing the media for the first time in a press conference that was covered live by most radio and TV stations, the new tourism secretary acquitted himself rather well, providing some unique and witty answers to mostly generic questions. He seems to get the Philippine tourism problem right away and sums it up vividly.

“Tourism is the people’s business,” Jimenez said. Its ultimate goal is “not merely to improve statistics on tourist arrivals” but “to generate fulfilling and profitable income and employment for our people.”

The possibility that tourism can be a major employer in the country has remained just that, a possibility.

In the UK, almost 9 percent of the work force is employed in the tourism sector. In Spain, the second top tourist destination in the world, over 2 million Spanish citizens are tourism workers.

Rallying our people toward a sense of ownership of the tourism industry and driving home the message that it can very well be their livelihood is certainly a step in the right direction.

Echoing what most Filipinos know by heart, Jimenez said the Philippines is one of the most beautiful countries in the world, if not one of the top 10 most beautiful countries in the world. We should be proud of our product.

“The Philippines should be as easy to sell as Chickenjoy,” he said. “So the question really is why is it hard [to sell]? Because maybe our approach to it is not simple enough.”

The lack of appropriate infrastructure to serve the needs of tourists and encourage investments in the sector has often been cited as the primary reason for the country’s relatively dismal tourism performance. Jimenez, though, argues that infrastructure is not everything.

If it were simply about infrastructure then the most visited place in North America after the US would be Canada because of its similar infrastructure, Jimenez said.  However, it is Mexico (despite its warring drug cartels and high number of kidnappings) that is the next biggest draw.

“The best marketing communications campaigns anywhere in the world are really hinged on the simplicity of a proposition,” he said.

He cited how the mere mention of Mexico immediately evokes iconic cultural images of tacos, sombreros and ponchos.

The Philippines should be marketed in a similar way, he said, but we are not there yet.

“You’ve got to work and think hard about what the proposition is. And then everyone else’s focus is on selling that. That’s how it works,” Jimenez said.

Certainly, creating that simple but compelling proposition and selling it has been quite problematic for our country’s tourism.

We haven’t really been able to figure out how to promote our country to the rest of the world, what to promote, or who to promote it to. But we join our people in hoping that with Jimenez at the helm of the DOT, all that is about to change. We, too, are ready to take part in the people’s business.