Philippine Tourism on the Lenses of a Foreign Vlogger: Nas Daily

Ana Bernice D. Caronongan

Alexis Anne Delos Reyes 

Patricia Lanuza

Marielle Mandac

Colleen Noble

 
 INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

The Philippines, having its rich biodiversity, continues its country's flagship tourism

campaign since 2012, "It's More Fun in the Philippines," setting a higher tourist arrival this year,

2019. According to the Department of Tourism, an 11.43% increase of tourist arrivals happened

for the first half of 2019 with South Korea, China, and the United States as the top source

market.

International tourists are able to give reviews to the country they've visited through a

travel vlog. Travel vlog is a type of an informative video blog that features the accommodation,

amenities, and the activities that can be done in a certain destination (Christensson, 2011).

Henderson (2018) claimed that travel vlogs are the most popular type of travel videos watched

on Youtube and 62% of leisure travelers make their choices and decisions only after watching

travel vlogs.

Travel vloggers share their experiences and honest thoughts through their video which

are usually used by the audience as basis whether to go to the place or not. According to Fox

(2015), 50% of travelers use online video in pursuing to take a trip because they believe on the

authenticity of the vlogger’s content. In fact, travel vloggers get 48% of Youtube subscriptions

while travel brands get only 19% (“Think with Google,” 2017). Through travel vlogs, places like

Philippines and its beauty are being known by the audience all over the world.

One travel vlogger that featured and promoted the Philippines is Nuseir Yassin, known

by many as Nas Daily. Perper (2018) stated that on the year 2016, after resigning for his work in

New York, Nas Daily decided to travel the world full-time and start documenting one-minute

vlog every day for 1,000 days. During the interview with Business Insider, Nusier Yassin
explained that the name "Nas" was adapted from the Arabic word “people.” His Facebook page

named Nas Daily is dedicated for his one-minute travel vlogs about the different stories and

cultures of people all around the world. As of 2019, Nas Daily had already made 30 videos

featuring some stories of Filipinos all over the world and the beauty of the Philippines.

Statement of the Problem

            There are numerous ways on how to promote the tourism sector of a country. With the

current technological advancement that we have, information dissemination is just one click

away. This is evident in the subject-case presented in this research which aims to answer the

following questions:

1) What are the positive and negative impact of vlogging as a way of showcasing the

tourism in the Philippines?

2) How did the travel vlogging of Nas Daily about the Philippines impacted the tourism

of the country?

The above questions will enable the reader to grasp the basic information about vlogging and

how it affects the perception of the people. 

Significance of the Study

The study will tackle how the world in the eyes of the foreign people view the Philippines

through a content analysis of a vlog from a famous vlogger, Nas Daily. The Philippines, in an

endless pursuit to progress and continuous development, expands their services and products in

the form of tourism, promoting and inviting not only potential tourists but foreign investors by

showcasing the country and its potential for future business endeavors. The aim of this study is
to provide information in a unique view of a person, understanding with deep comprehension

and deducing answers to how this particular person continues to make videos and share the

wonders of the Philippines to the world, giving them the chance to get to know the country better

and enticed them to experience the Philippines as a tourist destination. This paper can give a

background to how a vlogger and a tourist in the same manner, perceives the tourist destination

that they are capturing to give a picture to those who would view their content. 

The study will benefit the tourism industry as mentioned above, providing an overview to

how non-Filipinos perceive the Philippines as a tourist destination. This can potentially help the

future of the tourism industry to continually improve not only in a specific sector but all the

sectors involved. The benefit of the study is not only limited to the Tourism and Hospitality

Industry but the local government units governing cities and provinces that are being visited by

Filipino and non-Filipino tourists, to be able to improve their services to the people and study on

how they can gather more visitors to promote their place.

Scope and Delimitation of the Study

The focus of this study is to see how a foreign vlogger impacts tourism in the Philippines.

The researchers will obtain the information needed for this study using the travel vlogs of Nuseir

Yassin, known as Nas Daily, who has been highlighting the country in most of his videos. The

tourists, specifically foreigners, will get to recognize different reasons on why they should visit

and discover the beautiful places of the country. At the same time, they will appreciate and be

interested in the way of living of the people once they visit. The study will have various

respondents, mainly those using social media specifically Youtube. 

 
            The study has limitations which the researchers will not be able to cover. The researchers

restricted the study to only one (1) foreign vlogger who has promoted the Philippines in most of

his videos. Nuseir Yassinor or Nas Daily from Arraba, Israel is a vlogger who has done many

travel vlogs in different countries, most especially the Philippines. However, the researchers will

not be able to meet with Nuseir Yassin or Nas Daily due to the inconvenience, lack of time and

that he is coming from another country. Another limitation is why did the group choose Nuseir

Yassinor or Nas Daily as the focus of their study and not other vloggers. 
 References

Arnaldo, M. (2019, February 18). Foreigners list ‘the good, the bad and the ugly’ in PHL–

Tourism poll. Business Mirror. Retrieved from

https://businessmirror.com.ph/2019/02/18/foreigners-list-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly-

in-phl-tourism-poll/

Christensson, P. (2011, August 31). Vlogin Definition. Retrieved from https://techterms.com

Henderson, P. (2018, Jan 16). Video Marketing in Travel - 10 Key Insights [web blog].

Retrieved from https://blog.markgrowth.com/video-marketing-in-travel-10-key-insights-

a64fdcffa465

Think with Google. (2017). Retrieved from https://wersm.com/youtube-vloggers-changing-

travel-industry/

Fox, L. (2015, December 1). How video influences travel decisions. Retrieved from

https://www.phocuswire.com/How-video-influences-travel-decisions.

Perper, R. (2018, May 30). An Israeli-Palestinian Harvard graduate quit his job to travel the

world - and is now one of the most successful creators on Facebook. Retrieved from

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.businessinsider.com/how-nas-daily-became-one-of-

the-most-successful-vloggers-on-facebook-2018-5.