DAVAO CITY - The Department of Tourism (DOT) is spending P650 million to revise and "upscale" the "It's More Fun in the Philippines" campaign in 2017 as the catchy slogan "did not generate tourist arrivals," the tourism chief said on Saturday.

"Everybody liked it but the tourist arrivals, wala masyado," Tourism Secretary Wanda Teo said.

"We just want to answer the question: Why is it more fun in the Philippines?" Teo added.

Tourism arrivals increased by 12.5 percent or by 500,000 persons between August 2015 and August 2016, records from the DOT showed.

As of September 2016, tourist arrivals had "reached six million" and was "on track" to meet the 6.5 million goal of tourist arrivals by year-end, tourism officials said.

Advertising and marketing firm McCann Worldgroup will handle the conceptualization and implementation of the new campaign that has yet to be unveiled by the tourism department, Teo said.

"There was a bidding for that and McCann won... The P650 million budget was a done deal, approved by the previous administration," she said.

"The P650 million is not only for the tag line itself; that includes all the media placements all over the world," DOT Undersecretary Kat de Castro added.

Senate President Pro-Tempore Franklin Drilon earlier pushed to give the DOT a budget increase after its budget for 2017 was slashed by at least 32 percent, from P3.62 billion this year to P2.40 billion next year.

"Given its meager budget, I do not think the DOT can perform its tasks effectively. The committee should work out to infusing more funds into the agency's tourism campaign programs," Drilon said.