Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — The Department of Tourism (DOT) will do away with the popular "It's More Fun in the Philippines" slogan and launch a new campaign by January 2017.

A Nielsen study found that the slogan failed to encourage tourists to visit the Philippines, DOT Undersecretary Kat De Castro said Tuesday in a press conference.

"The new campaign under [Tourism] Secretary Wanda Teo will be more specific in terms of destination and what activities [tourists] can do," said De Castro."We would like to reinforce the Philippines brand...and definitely inject more unique Philippine experience with the local cuisine and culture to make it more authentic," she added.

The "It's More Fun in the Philippines" campaign kicked off in 2012 and prompted thousands of creative memes on social media platforms.

However, the study conducted from March to April this year showed that in Europe, nearly two in three survey respondents like the slogan, but that only one in four said they would travel to the Philippines. In North America, three in four respondents favored the popular tagline, but less than half of those interviewed were enticed to come here.

The Tourism Department is now soliciting ideas from advertising companies for the new slogan and campaign to be launched in January 2017, when the Ms. Universe pageant is held in Manila.

Killings not turning off tourists

Asked if news reports on the alleged extrajudicial killings in the country were scaring off tourists and driving down arrivals, Secretary Teo disagreed.

"There's still an increase in tourist arrivals," Teo said. "Tourists still come in spite of that so, for me, it has not been affected," she added. The department said it's on track to reach its six-million tourist mark by the end of 2016, since the 3.8-million mark was reached in July.

Tourism revenues rose by nearly 10.5 percent from a year ago to 21.2 billion pesos (USD 450 million) in the month of July 2016. Koreans are the top visitors and spenders in the Philippines, accounting for six billion pesos of the revenues.

In the runup to the Ms. Universe pageant, the DOT has embarked on beautification campaigns in the historic walled city Intramuros. Renovations on the Clam Shell Pavilion and construction of the Museo de Intramuros are ongoing. Around 1,000 vendors and informal settlers in Intramuros will be relocated to the province of Cavite, south of Manila.