The concept of destination branding and its impact to tourist influx has been explored by many scholars who argued that the tourists' demand for "experience economy" has driven destinations to market themselves as a unique brand. Using this as a framework, this study explores the status of Philippine cultural tourism and assesses the challenges and orientations that pervade in its practice, which could be developed to attain the country's developmental goals. This study proposes feasible action plans that could be taken to address the identified challenges that center on inauthentic and unsustainable tourism products. By looking into the existing craft industry, which acts as a marker of destination branding, this work examines the challenges that its cultural tourism sector is facing in relation to the growing ecotourism capital. Conceptually, this study argues that the Government Tourism Policies have a direct impact on the level of Cultural Tourism Development of a region. It also affects the Tourism Orientations of both the tourist and the service provider. The primary contribution of this work is a matrix that presents the current challenges and orientations towards the cultural tourism sector as perceived by local tourism operators and craft industry members.
Objectives: Mental health problems such as anxiety and depression have been steadily rising among university students in the Philippines. While there exists literature determining students’ quality of life and health access behaviour, there remains a substantial gap in having a local framework with which to understand their vulnerabilities. In this paper, we aim to identify the socio-cultural factors that exacerbate the challenges that Filipino university students navigate in their attainment of well-being. Design: The study used an exploratory qualitative design. Setting: Data were collected from university students attending a private higher education institution in Manila, the Philippines. Method: Using a cultural epidemiological approach and a qualitative design, semi-structured interviews were conducted online with 60 university-level students. Interviews were recorded, transcribed and translated into English. Data were open coded and thematically analysed. Results: The lived experience of 60 university students revealed that factors including volatile household dynamics, intergenerational [mis]understanding of mental illness, stressful academic engagement and religious associations contributed to the individual framing of their conditions, which ranged from self-stigma to self-prescribed isolation. Various experiences linked to the Filipino value of pagdamay (sharing the burden) significantly aided students’ management of their conditions. Conclusion: Drawing on the narratives elicited, a community-based approach using the university as the core for intervention delivery is proposed that may positively impact on students’ mental health seeking behaviour.
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