With Apl.de.Ap as your tour guide, plan your March 12-19, 2017 trip to the PHL now!

The new Philippine ambassador of Tourism has six Grammy Awards and a booming empire as a hip hop artist.

Apl.de.Ap of the popular Black Eyed Peas band, hosted an afternoon reception at the Viacom corporate headquarters on Times Square, to unveil his “It’s More Fun in the Philippines” tourism video. The launch was organized by the Philippine Consulate and the Philippine Department of Tourism New York (PDOT NY).

The video shows the Pampanga-born Apl.de.Ap’s (whose birth name is Allan Pineda Lindo) travel to the Philippines with “24 Top Influencers,” relating their experience while visiting destination spots such as Boracay, the Chocolate Hills in Bohol, and Fort Santiago in Manila. The Influencers, one of them stand-up comic Jo Koy, where chosen by Apl.de.Ap based on their significant impact on the arts, music, social media and popular culture among today’s millennial generation. A FilAm family was part of the trip home. The parents, who have not been home for 19 years, traveled with their teen daughter.

In his presentation, Apl encouraged the Filipino American community to continue to spread the positive word about the Philippines’ beautiful destinations. This is a country where there are lots of “places to explore, places to discover, and places where time is all you have” says the video.

Officials led by Consul Felipe Carino III, acting Head of Post, and the PDOT-NY Officer-in-Charge Zeny Pallugna, welcomed guests who are mostly journalists and leaders of the FilAm community. Guests were invited to sample Philippine food products such as dried papaya, dried coconut, and banana chips, as well as calamansi cocktail.

In the open forum that followed, Apl said he has been promoting the Philippines on his own for many years, until the past couple of years when the tourism department made him official spokesman. Asked how challenging it is to promote a country where the government has a controversial anti-drug campaign, he said, “There are a lot of changes in the administration…but promoting the country does not change.”

He quickly added what some have been saying that “people feel safer now.”

In enticing young FilAms to join him in his upcoming visit on March 12-19, 2017, Apl said he wants them to experience his country — its white sand paradise, its exotic food, and its non-stop nightlife. He said the ‘balut’ duck embryo is an experience into itself. “When you eat it, don’t look at it; just eat it really fast.”

“This influencers’ trip is a one-of-a-kind adventure to the Philippines as Apl.de.Ap will be your host and tour guide,” said PDOT-NY’s Pallugna.

Said Apl, “The Philippines will always be home, and I feel forever fortunate to call it as such. The people, the food, the sights, it’s something that everyone has to experience.”

During the Viacom reception, Apl performed some of his Tagalog and English songs, dueting with up-and-coming singer Jessica Reynoso, a finalist in The Voice of the Philippines. Part-African American, Reynoso is being billed the “Filipino Beyonce.”