Best Posts in Thread: #DumaGeTmE is the new Dumaguete branding

With that verbage, Dumaguete will definitely draw the attention of those "looking for love" as a place to do exactly that!! Dumaguete already draws that crowd. It would be nice to see more normal tourists visiting Dumaguete to actually go sightseeing, etc... rather than so many male retirees looking for mates to settle down with. They should reconsider that branding.

 

It would have been a lot better had people not seen and appreciated the simplicity and beauty of the previous sign... this new sign is... simply bordering on being idiotic to me.

 

I agree that Dumaguete has the potential of being a tourist hub more than it currently is, and the city would be well advised to try to attract more visitors. If a new hashtag thingy can help with that, by all means....
I think the interpretation of the #DumaGeTmE! sign is obviously a subjective issue, people will associate their impression as they see fit. My personal view is that the average tourist will not link the tag to dating or sexual innuendo.
I do think it is a good thing that the previous sign will be replaced. It was a popular place for tourists to take pictures and I have no doubt that the replacement will serve the same purpose.
However, as a resident of Dumaguete I do feel some irritation when leaped together with visitors. The only sense in which I am a tourist would be legally, but in all practical meanings I am definitely not.
Whether the flow of retirees to Dumaguete with intention to settle down should be encouraged or not is harder to answer. From an economic standpoint the average retiree does a lot more for the local economy than a tourist, and if we would all decide to move somewhere else it would have quite an impact, but there is also definitely a limit to how many foreigners can "fit in" without disrupting the local social fabric. Pinpointing that limit is not so easy though.