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| Missing Out in Tourism By Antonio C. Abaya Written Dec. 11, 2005 For The Standard Today, December 13 issue Tourism was supposed to be one of the three economic sectors that the Arroyo Government was going to concentrate on to generate jobs and spur investments in, along with information and communications technology (ICT) and agriculture. It was all spelled out in its Mid-Term Development Plan drafted in 2001. That the Plan did not include manufacturing as a focus, I have lamented several times since. Vietnam is chugging along on the path to economic prosperity and is on its way to becoming the next Asian tiger, with light manufacturing industries as one of its foci, helped along by substantial investments ($5.4 billion in 2005) from Japan and Taiwan. But President Arroyo, along with former President Fidel Ramos, is an apostle of Free Trade and Globalization, under which the Philippines has apparently been scratched off as a manufacturing country and must fend for itself as an exporter of labor. During a one-on-one with her in late September 2001, I had argued that a hectare of agricultural land, planted to rice or corn, cannot sustain even one family for one year. But that same hectare of land, if converted into a manufacturing center, can sustain several hundred families. I thought that was a commonsensical argument. But she did not see it that way. She replied, evasively, that the debate between agriculture and industry was a 19th century debate. In other words, �My mind is made up. Forget manufacturing. We will concentrate on ICT, agriculture, tourism and the export of labor.� To some extent, she has met with success. The Philippines is now a thriving base for call centers, next only to India, and we have succeeded in sending abroad eight million of our countrymen - almost one tenth of our entire population - including some of our best nurses, care-givers, teachers, doctors, mechanics, electricians, carpenters, plumbers, accountants, managers, engineers, computer technicians, etc.. But we seem to be having difficulties in attracting tourists to our shores. Tourist arrivals in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2004 - 2003 was inexplicably excluded - for the Philippines, according to data published in the Standard Today (Nov. 23 and 24) were: 2.2 million, 1.9 million, 1.8 million, 1.9 million and 2.3 million. We are expecting to draw in 2.5 million in 2005. Vietnam: 1.8m, 2.1m, 2.3m and 2.6m. No data for 2004 and 2005. Indonesia: 4.3m, 5.0m, 5.1m, 5.0m and 5.3m Singapore: 6.9m, 7.7m, 7.5m, 7.3m. No data for 2004 and 2005 Thailand: 8.7m, 9.6m, 10.1m, 10.8m, and 11.7m. They expect 13.0m in 2005. Malaysia: 7.9m, 10.2m, 12.8m, 11.7m and 15.7m In addition, the data published in the Standard Today show that in 2004 Taiwan drew in 2.9 million tourists, South Korea 5.8 million, Japan 6.l million, tiny Macao (which is smaller than Makati) 8.3 million, and Hong Kong 21.8 million. Of course, a large portion of Macao�s and Hong Kong�s arrivals are visitors from the Chinese mainland, only a train- or boat-ride away. But it does not hide the fact that there is something basically wrong or amiss with our tourism efforts. Keep in mind, for instance, that in 1991 Indonesia and the Philippines had almost exactly the same number of tourist arrivals: one million. Fourteen years later, Indonesia is drawing in 5.3 million tourists, despite three major bombings in Bali and Jakarta, while we are still struggling with 2.5 million. Note, also, that while a graph of our tourist arrivals would show a jagged line with ups and downs, that of Vietnam is a straight line upward. This suggests a methodical and steady marketing effort on the part of the Vietnamese, and inconsistent and erratic efforts on our part. Note, also, that while in 1999, the Philippines beat Vietnam in tourist arrivals (our 2.2m versus their 1.8m), in the next years Vietnam surpassed the Philippines. In 2002, Vietnam has started to pull away from us (their 2.6m versus our 1.9m). Is this going to be a repeat of our sad (to us) rivalry with Indonesia above? The question has to be asked: Why is the Philippines always missing out in tourism? The communists and nationalists constantly blame our economic failures on American imperialism and neo-colonial conditionalities of the IMF and World Bank.. But, in the matter of tourism, I am not aware of any evil American imperialist or IMF-World Bank plot to discourage tourists from visiting the Philippines. Just as in the matter of the export of manufactured goods, I am not aware that the American imperialists and the IMF-World Bank manipulators forced us to choose import substitution and prevented us from venturing out into exports. In both sectors � tourism and exports � the marketing failures, the wrong decisions, the labor militancy (by the communists against exporting companies) were entirely ours. We should learn to stop blaming others for our mistakes and our failures. I recall that in 1982, when Gen. Prem Tinsulananda assumed power in Thailand through a military coup d�etat, and he was asked what his economic priorities would be, he simply replied: tourism and exports. Bingo! He had it right, right from the start. There is no earthly reason why Malaysia should draw in 15.7 million tourists in 2004, while we pad our 2.3 million with balikbayans because that was all we were getting. Like the Philippines, Malaysia has no Borobodur, no Angkor Wat, no Ayuthaya, no Pagan. What Malaysia has a lot of are beaches, beaches and more beaches, of which we have our fair share and even more. What few historical monuments that Malaysia has are dwarfed by our Corregidor, our Intramuros and our Spanish mission churches (like Paoay and Miag-ao) that go back several centuries. But Malaysia knows how to market what it has. We don�t. The melodious slogan �Malaysia � Truly Asia� is heard practically everyday, several times a day, backdropped by colorful film clips, on CNN and the BBC. That cannot but have an impact on the hundreds of millions who watch cable TV around the world, and who make up the vast market for international tourism. On the other hand, what does the world see and hear about the Philippines? Only the Sound of Silence, broken now and then by news of corruption and criminality, the kidnapping of foreigners and an endless communist insurgency, all played up by our media in the name of �absolute freedom of the press.� In my article, �Wow, Philippines!� (July 08, 2004), I panned our then ongoing cable TV campaign as amateurish, inept and unlikely to attract many visitors. A bird�s eye view of a DESERTED beach, the anchor image of Wow, Philippines!, just cannot compete with images of people having fun or proudly displaying their vibrant cultures. Several days after my article came out, Wow, Philippines! was rightly withdrawn from the airwaves But � and this is the saddest part � nothing has been produced to take its place. Only the Sound of Silence. It has been 17 months already. In marketing, if your product has not been heard of or from for 17 months, it is as good as dead. Since tourism was/is one of its focus industries in its development plan, has the Arroyo Government figured out the economic difference between 15.7 and 2.3 million tourists? It means millions of jobs foregone in hotels, resorts and restaurants: tourist guides, tour bus drivers, laundrywomen, folk dancers, food producers and flower growers, chefs and cooks, souvenir makers, musicians, entertainers, waiters, taxi drivers, boatmen, diving and sailing instructors, printers of brochures, publishers of maps and guidebooks, security guards, money changers, repairmen of all kinds. And much of that bonanza would have flowed into the countryside where they are most needed.. It means billions of pesos also foregone for tourism-related companies, as well as for banks, credit card companies and telecom providers, and hundreds of millions of pesos in tax revenues and dollar income lost to the government. The Philippines missing out in tourism, in the middle of a tourism boom area, is like a hungry man spurning manna from heaven. And that�s what we have been doing for the past 25 years. Criminal neglect, if you ask me ***** Reactions to [email protected] or ax 824-7642. Other articles in www.tapatt.org OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOo Reactions to �Missing Out in Tourism� I loved your article and it is refreshing that someone sees it for what it is...the lack of tourism promotion in this country. I am in the process of opening a resort in Cebu. I have had NOTHING BUT TROUBLE...The government doesn�t implement laws that exist to protect myself in terms of tourism development and specifically noise. I am within 500 meters of two major 5-star hotels and the amount of discos and karaoke in the area is astonishing. I could speak at length about these problems as it has made me rethink our investment goals. This government is literally begging for investment like mine to come to the Philippines...Yet they are unable or unwilling to simply control their area by using the laws in place. It seems to me that either they are worried about "votes" or just are looking for ways to stop investment. I would love to be a part of any study group, discussion or anything pertaining to tourism to voice my thoughts and concerns. Again, thanks for your great article....If I as an investor in the tourism sector could address the MAJOR problems of Philippine tourism, they would be the following: Lack of promotion Noise pollution Lack of local governance as pertain to existing public disturbance laws. This should be your next article. Sorry, I must remain anonymous. but you must understand the local repercussions I would face if they knew my name. But I would be happy to "feed" you info to bring these problems to light. (No name given), [email protected] Cebu City, December 13, 2005 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Great article, Antonio! The main problem also stems from the lack of confidence the Philippine Government has in the Philippines as a tourist attraction. They would rather send their sons and daughters (who actually want to stay in the Philippines) to other countries rather than invest on them to stay and work in their homeland. Like I said before, the Philippine Government, including the Presidency, is still stuck in this mind frame of being a follower and not a leader. The Philippines will always be a follower because they have not been trained to lead for themselves. They would rather send the laboring masses to the USA because the USA needs the cheap labor but life in the USA for a Filipino is not really all the hype they make it out to be. But we have been brainwashed to think that living outside of the Philippines is better. Why? The Philippines is beautiful! I always promote the Philippines as a tourist attraction with tons of history... even American History. Imagine all the busses taking tourists to the area of the Bataan Death March. There are so many things to do in Manila and the neighboring provinces! We need new government. The one we have now are old, decrepit and selfish. They are truly there to amass wealth for their heirs and not really think about the Philippines as a prospering nation. Louis J. Eguaras, [email protected] Valencia, California, December 14, 2005 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Gloria is stupid to have said that manufacture versus agriculture is a 19th century debate when in fact light manufacturing is the solution to the employment problems of the majority of Filipinos who cannot afford to cough up the cash to seek employment abroad. Furthermore, ICT is a skilled sector wherein not all Filipinos qualify, while agriculture itself is being drowned out by the rapid expansion of many urban areas in the country since the population is increasing by leaps and bounds. Factories are the solution for employment for badly educated Filipinos who comprise the majority of the population who will not have any chance to work in IT, agriculture and much more abroad! We have a stupid president. Jose Custodio, [email protected] December 14, 2005 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Hi Tony, Your laments about Philippine Tourism are well founded. A basic reason for our poor showing is that the officials appointed for tourism jobs are not professional marketing men. They are politicians awarded the job to pay political debts! I lived in Guam for five years. There, a visitor is counted as a tourist only if he stays in a hotel. So relatives or balikbayans are not counted if they do not stay in hotels. If you use this standard to our statistics, our honest-to-goodness visitor count will drop to maybe even less than a million, maybe just 500,000. THIS IS PATHETIC. Furthermore, if you take out business visitors (not pleasure tourists) who have to come for business anyway, that 500,000 figure will drop lower. IN OTHER WORDS, IF YOU WANT TO MEASURE THE REAL SUCCESS OF ANY MARKETNG EFFORT BY OUR DOT ... YOU WILL HAVE TO TAKE MOST BALIKBAYANS, MOST BUSINESSMEN OUT OF THE COUNT ... AND WHAT DO YOU HAVE LEFT? A TRULY PATHETIC FIGURE! You can dissolve the entire DOT .. and there will still be the same trickle of tourists who come on their way to Hong Kong, or Taiwan, or Korea. DOT marketing effort is not a factor. A few brochures left in basements of consulates will not do. (This actually has happened.) What we need is an in-depth study of our situation, both here and in the major markets .. and hire professionals to do the job! Maybe dissolve the entire department and start all over again, retaining only the most qualified. Roger P Olivares, [email protected] December 14, 2005 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Why can't we teach and discipline the poor to make tourism a thriving industry? A competition for tourism at barangay or barrio level. Perhaps the mayors who supported Gloria can work on this? Or are they really just there to propagate themselves? Banana Dick, [email protected] December 14, 2005 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Hi, Tony, "Missing Out In Tourism" is an interesting read. Would you like to know WHY ELSE? TOURISTS ARE DEATHLY AFRAID TO SEE HOW CRUEL WE ARE TO STREET DOGS, CATS AND CARRETELA HORSES (to name just a few of the animals abused here); Government officials publicly announcing that they eat dog meat "and just let them come arrest me!"; dog meat sold openly in wet markets; cats kidnapped for unauthorized experiments even in grade schools; exhausted carretela horses falling down and beaten by cocheros- yes, right on Roxas Boulevard- what do you expect? We in the cause for animal welfare, trying to get Republic Act 8485 (which protects all animals in our country) implemented , face stiff rejection of our advocacy. No funds from government, you betcha, and hardly any cooperation from implementing arms. There's a LOT MORE to lament about, but I don't want to spoil your day. CHEERS! Nita Lichauco, [email protected] December 14, 2005 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Dear ACA, We sure are missing out in tourism. Why? Because we have terribly wrong priorities. We have scratched heavy industrialization to what? Call centers, export our human resources which is based mainly on the poverty of this nation, we have more pizza houses but really few consumers to spend their hard earned money. We are simply thriving much on smuggled goods, just go to Divisoria. How can they sell such items at give-away cost? China shoes at P150! Patay na ang Marikina! We need a leader who will go on heavy industrialization. Let foreign investment come in but we have to accumulate Filipino capital that is internally generated so that we are not reduced to begging the creditor banks that opens up our sovereignty to predatory acts! Empirical evidence tells us that when you industrialize, your culture and economy, society becomes stable because people have something to eat. Then they become creative. They follow the rules of society. Planned tourism naturally flourish. First the internal tourist who can spend seeing their own country will contribute to the economy. We should develop in the path of our own needs. This is the essence of what a nation is. We should produce what we need, from a needle, ships, airplanes, machines that will bore on mountains, build subways, magnetic levitation trains, you name it, this nation should have it. Where is the Filipino capital now? In foreign soil? We have a policy of agriculture first and where are we now? Who is now licking those fertilizers? The farmers? As the rate our Asean neighbors are going now, potential visitors would rather visit the moon or the nearby galaxy, because we have defaulted on developing our country. We concentrated in waiting for those foreign remittance. AL Jose Leonidas, [email protected] December 14, 2005. wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Dear Mr. Abaya, You ask "Why is the Philippines missing out on Tourism?" Maybe we should not look as far as Malacanang to get the answer. Here is a letter from a Canadian who wanted to invest in the Philippines but was robbed, cheated and insulted. There are many foreigners who can tell you horror stories and who would be willing to tell their chilling nightmare of doing business in the Philippines. What more tourism? Can you at least write about this incident or similar incidents as a follow up to your article? Ruth G. Honculada, [email protected] Manager, Foundation Affairs Unit Philippine Business for Social Progress December 14, 2005 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Mr. Abaya, Thank you for agreeing to at least print this story. I had received this letter early this week and obviously the writer is emotional and in despair as to how to solve the situation he currently faces. Unfortunately I have heard numerous stories such as this and I feel it is just a microcosm that reflects the larger picture of the current situation that the Philippines sees itself in. The value of a contract and good governance are the start of what grows and develops an Economy. Sean Georget, [email protected] Executive Director Canadian Chamber of Commerce December 14, 2005 MY REPLY. I have read the letter of Mr. Alan G. Furet. Since this is a private business matter between him and Mr. Osmena, I cannot intervene. Mr. Furet should hire a good Filipino lawyer, perhaps on the recommendation of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, which he should have done right from the start. If all his claims against Mr. Osmena are true, this should be an open-and-shut case. wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Dear Mr. Abaya: Globalization as pushed by WTO and embraced by the Ramos and Arroyo Administrations is detrimental to us Filipinos precisely because our economy is not export-oriented. WTO's liberalization includes finished products and volatile capital exported in great volumes by advanced nations, but not services or overseas workers offered in abundance by developing countries, like ours. The Philippines is at the short end of the bargain because its main export--overseas workers--are excluded from liberalization and are even subject to abuse by employers by way of sexual harassment, prolonged working hours, and underpayment or non-payment of salaries. WTO should---but does not---include in the globalization package the protection of overseas workers who make possible the smooth running of export-oriented industries of many labor-starved nations. We cannot blame WTO for its neglect or inaction. Our government apparently never asked for such protection in the first place. Globalization induces increased exports and imports of products that can be either good or bad to an economy. Under it, our more progressive Asian neighbors with existing strong export industries can readily fend for themselves. While their local industries will be under attack from competitive imported goods, this will be counterbalanced by their increased exports from product liberalization. In our case, without robust exports, hefty imports will harm further our economy. We have to live with irreversible globalization and benefit from it in the long run by promoting our export sector and at the same time making our local industries competitive--through, among other things, cheap credit from liberalized long-term foreign capital in the form of full liberalization of the Philippine banking system. If we gave up protection of our struggling manufacturers, lowly farmers, and small retailers, why not do the same on our local bank stockholders who do not even constitute the less privileged members of our society? Liberalized long-term foreign capital, under which local production will be handled by Filipino entrepreneur-borrowers, is the same as liberalized direct foreign investments except that the former is not packaged with expatriates and technology that we ourselves can provide. Meantime, we should not be too fast in giving up tariff protection of our local products and industries unless other nations reciprocate, liberalize to the same extent as we do, remove their multi-billion-dollar farm subsidies, and do not impose non-tariff barriers on our products on flimsy grounds. Marcelo L. Tecson, [email protected] San Miguel, Bulacan, December 14, 2005 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww (Copy furnished) The subject of Philippine tourism has always interested me, having come from media and promoting advertising sales. But Philippine tourism campaigns, I found , were always created in an echo chamber -- to sound good and appeal to Filipinos rather than to overseas tourists. The worse of these campaigns was "WOW " which was created by the Tourism Director who always functioned like an Atenean cheer leade,r whether he was running Subic Bay with volunteers, or the Tourism Department with childish chants that mean nothing to the foreign traveler. He just never outgeow his " Fly High" school days. An earlier Tourism Secretary was a storehouse of barrio ideas promoting Philippine trinkets and "fiestas," as if fiesta were a word the Chinese, Indonesians, Bulgarians or ever Americans are familiar with. Oh, but "fiesta" is a word every barrio knows ... Today, as Antonio Abaya points out , Philippine tourism is operating in a Sound of Silence . Why shouldn't it ? What are the marketing credentials - the international marketing credentials - of the young Cebuano who has been anointed to be the current Tourism Czar . Tourism is an intensely competitive arena. And it isn't money that determines the success of tourism promotions. It is primarily expressing the country's USF - Unique Selling Factor " such as Malaysia�s " Truly Asia". The campaign theme must be understood worldwide. It must appeal to a tourist's desire. It must be credible. Tourism promotions must be handled by Filipinos with international marketing experience�... Dick Taylor, [email protected] December 14, 2005 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Contrary to your claim in this article that there hasn't been a marketing ad on cable since Wow Philippines was pulled out, there has actually been a TV ad promoting Manila on cable television. In fact, the DOT is sponsoring some segments on the Discovery channel to promote Philippine Tourism. That being said, the ad campaign is (again) amateurish and seems to be another half-assed campaign to promote tourism. Juxtaposed against the Malaysia: Truly Asia ad (which is also aired on the same channel regularly), it is pathetic. If you have not seen it yet, it is truly embarassing and one wonders why it was made in the first place. It gives one the impression that a certain budget was allotted for TV ads... and this particular one was made just so there is some output or something to show for. The Malaysia: Truly Asia ad doesn't look like it took a terrible amount of money to shoot. It was obviously shot with good film and the landscapes were shot very well, but it is not something that we can't duplicate or surpass. But then again, it is the same type of sad question posed by many people an inordinate number of times already: We have natural resources and our people are intelligent and hard-working, why can't we duplicate the success of our Asian neighbors? Paolo Reyes, [email protected] December 14, 2005 MY REPLY. I have seen the Manila Manila ad on Discovery Channel, but it hasn�t been shown on CNN or the BBC, thank God. It is actually worse than Wow Philippines because it promises what it cannot deliver: African tribal warriors (Ati-atihan, of course) with Zulu shields. Has anyone seen any of these fake Negroes in Metro Manila? Since when have they been an integral part of our culture? wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww In comparing the Philippines with Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia or even Vietnam, I wonder if peace and order, infrastructure and prostitution have anything to do with such disparity in Tourism statistics? Rafael Santos II, [email protected] Roxas City, December 14, 2005 MY REPLY. You mean, more prostitutes, more tourist arrivals? That may be true for Thailand. But Malaysia and Singapore are puritanical societies and prostitution officially does not exist. But of course it does, though not anywhere near as openly as in Thailand. Effective marketing, more than anything else, determines success or failure in tourism. wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Nice one. Peter Capotosto, [email protected] December 14, 2005 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Hi Tony, I totally agree with your point that we are missing out on a huge opportunity in tourism and that our marketing effort is so poor compared to our neighbors�. Although we are potentially at par with the other Southeast Asian countries in terms of attractions - whether cultural, historical, natural, culinary, nightlife or shopping - we also have a potential edge which is a fairly common understanding of basic English. Unfortunately, all of these elements essential to building a healthy tourism industry are rapidly disappearing. Our old churches, houses and historic buildings are being torn down or renovated in bad taste, while priceless artifacts are stolen. Rare species are hunted, reefs are destroyed, Chocolate Hills are quarried, parks are turned into parking buildings, white sand beaches are trucked away and forests, rivers and waterfalls are irreversibly ruined. Soon, even our English proficiency will disappear as our best teachers continue to leave. Aside from poor marketing, our tourism arrivals fail to pick up because the country is not tourist friendly. Our airport - the very first impression of a visitor to our country - is a disgrace, while the biggest monument to corruption in the world stands shining and unused just across the runway. Singapore and Bangkok have user-friendly mass transit systems that make it easy for a tourist to move around. Visit Bali, Bangkok, Singapore, New Zealand - they all have tons of free brochures and maps waiting at the airport, and tourism assistance centers everywhere. Their tourism industries are well organized to make one's visit pleasurable. This is just as important as good marketing because this ensures return visitors, which is one other reason why their numbers have been increasing and ours have not. Nobody wants to come here because our marketing stinks, and for the few who do come over, they don't come back because the product stinks. Just one more legacy of a series of incredibly stupid governments. Tonton Mapa, [email protected] December 14, 2005 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww How can tourism improved when there's too much graft and corruption right at the gateway (NAIA) to Manila. With corrupt immigration, customs, MIAA, PNP trying to milk out every Tom, Dick and Harry tourist just right after landing, no wonder they never come back. Don't forget the taxi drivers and their hulidap syndicates. Sad to say, because of the government's effort to boost tourism, it attracted the wrong kind of people coming over. It attracted pedophiles and prostitution has become quite a business nowadays. There is nothing to wonder why this is happening. It�s time for real change. Bombing Moll, [email protected] December 14, 2005 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Dear Mr. Abaya: I read your Tourism exchanges. My personal experience has been that the tourism advertised outside the Phils - is not supported by local infrastructure. . Without a comprehensive plan - marketing outside the country -- and in-country support - it will always be a failure. Bad news even in the internet gets more press than good. And one negative tourist is enough. News about the scams at the airport are circulated widely -- this does not help either. Sorry! P. Kiram, [email protected] December 15, 2005 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Reactions to �Here Comes Vietnam� (Dec. 06) Vietnam - Population below poverty line: 28.9% (2002 est.) Philippines - Population below poverty line: 40% (2001 est.) Vietnam - Unemployment rate: 1.9% (2004 est.) Philippines - Unemployment rate: 11.7% (2004 est.) I'm not sure if we can be a tiger economy. Poverty brings people to communism or rebellion. Political weakness shy away investments. Educated Filipinos work abroad resulting in a brain drain. Such is a serious problem and becoming worst. Nonoy Ramos, [email protected] Pennsylvania, December 14, 2005 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Dear Mr. Abaya: Our apprehension that Vietnam will overtake us in The New Asian Tigers Club will indeed be a reality if we based that on the trend of foreign direct investments the former is hosting for the past years. The culprit that undermines us is not necessarily the low labor wage you mention during the 1960's in Hong Kong and Taiwan. But the iniquitous 6O-40 per centum that favor Pinoy businessmen control of any corporation against their foreign partners. These two provisions on the Constitution (Sections 10 and 11 of Article 12 ) discourage foreign investors to venture in areas of investments that will hopefully solve our unemployment problems. Notwithstanding, it only allows 40 % of capital for non-Filipino, but gives 60% for Filipinos who can hardly scrimp for funds for big time investment. Pray tell, these laws that strangle huge infusion of capital will be included in case our constitution will be amended. Pray tell, our senators will patriotically be enlightened on the urgency of the amendments. Mortz Ortigoza, [email protected] Dagupan City, December 12, 2005 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Beware at NAIA Thank you for bringing this to my attention. Would like you to know that we are currently investigating this, together with PNP-ASG. Will let you know of our findings. Carlos L. Agustin, [email protected] December 12, 2005 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww |
| Hi Tony! First of all, I would like to thank you for including me in your e-mail group. Below is my reaction to your article 'Missing Out in Tourism'. When you suggested a 'methodical and steady marketing effort on the part of the Vietnamese, and inconsistent and erratic efforts on our part', what does 'marketing effort' include? Even if marketing effort includes much more than just the making and placing of effective ads in CNN or BBC and is a major factor in the success of a country's tourism, concentrating on it alone may not be enough for us to catch up even with a mediocre country like Indonesia. I think our low tourism figure is caused not just by poor marketing effort but also by the very poor/bad image of our country in relation to many countries. Considering that almost all countries are also exerting their best efforts to enhance their tourism, I think it will need the help of most Filipinos to greatly improve our tourism figures by addressing all (not just a part of) factors that affect a country's tourism. From a system's approach, success/failure of a country's tourism is affected by two groups of factors, namely: 1. The positive factors like marketing effort and other good tourism practice s that would tend to increase the number of tourists and 2. The negative factors like crimes committed on tourists, bad news, etc. that would tend to minimize an increase or even cause a decrease in the number of tourists. The optimal strategy is to try to do the following simultaneously: 1. Increase the number and/or size of the positive factors within the available but limited resources. It might be good to know what are the things that would encourage tourists to go to us, the good tourism practices and support services that would induce them to decide to come. 2. Minimize if not eliminate the negative factors. We need to know what is wrong with us which discourages them from coming. In connection with the above, I think it would be good if the Tourism department, Tourism industry and concerned NGOs can form groups consisting of people who will work on #1 and 2 above. Their work can also include finding ways to get the help of all OCWs and concerned Pinoys to help in the tourism effort (e.g., talented people like you Tony can help in making effective ads at low cost, sponsor a contest where the one who brings in the most number of foreigner tourists during a given period will get a financial reward, give recognition to those who can contribute very creative tourism ideas, Pinoys with cars/houses can be trained and certified to be tour guides/hosts, etc.), harnessing the tourism opportunities in the internet (e.g., email ads may be sent by Pinoys to their 'foreigner' friends) and uniting the Tourism industry by suggesting period when hotels should give certain discounts, hotel prices considering foreign competition (note that a lower price with say 70% occupancy rate might be better than a higher price at 30 % occupancy rate only) and set up a Tourism email group to enable as many Pinoys, including those who are abroad like me to discuss/brainstorm and help/give suggestions about tourism. When Sen. Gordon was secretary of Tourism, he came out with an idea about each overseas Pinoy convincing at least 1 (?) foreigner each year to come and visit the Phil. The idea looks simple and relatively easy to attain. Since there are more than 7 million of them, that would have meant an increase of at least 7 million tourists a year. I suspect that it did very little to increase the number of tourists. Thru Pinoy creative thinking, I think it can be made to work for most if not all overseas Pinoys. I think the major problem is caused by some Pinoys who look at all tourists as rich people and try to take advantage of them. Although they might be in the minority, stories about a few tourists being mugged, fooled, etc. (thru word of mouth or news media) would discourage most foreigners, without a Pinoy host/friend, from coming to the Phil. This problem also discourages most OCWs and former Pinoys to recommend to their foreigner friends/officemates from coming here being afraid that something bad might happen to them. The Abu Sayaf and bad news aggravate the problem. When I learned that my Saudi friend was going to Singapore for his annual holiday, I suggested to him to come to Manila. He declined because he had a bad experience when he went there. A Pinoy offered to buy his $ at a rate better than that of a bank. After counting the $, the Pinoy put it in his pocket then gave him the pesos. It was less than the agreed rate so my friend asked for the return of his $. He at first tried to return less $ than what my friend gave. He finally returned all $ only after my friend showed that he will fight for it. I think my friend was still lucky. He could have had a traumatic experience if the guy had companions or had a gun or knife. Although it would be ideal if we can come up with original brilliant ideas in accomplishing the above, it would be good if we try to start by looking and possibly adopting and improving on good practices of countries which are doing better than us in tourism: Thailand - A friend who visited it said that after one passes Immigration at the airport, one will see Travel Agencies who will help a tourist book a hotel and a car with a guide and driver for a whole day at relatively cheap price. The guide gives one a lot of advices such as what to buy and what price to haggle, etc. My friend said that it is even cheaper if one gets the car in a hotel because the driver is also the guide. Australia - Airports and big bus stations have posters in one area which advertises cheap hotels in the area. Thus a tourist who has no advance reservation can easily find a lodging place. In Melbourne, a big hotel in the city proper advertised in the yellow pages a cheap room (about 2 meters by 3 meters only with common toilet and bath) at A$ 40 a day only. In the TV series 'The Practice' which I saw only last week, a boy was caught snatching bags. At first, he was not given a jail sentence. But after it was clarified that the victims were tourists, he was charged with a crime that has a maximum penalty o f 20 years because tourism in the state of Massachusetts is a multi-billion $ business. Thus, a crime against a tourist may be considered as a form of economic sabotage. It would be good if the Phil. can have similar laws. It would be good if we can have a hotline for tourist complaints The tourism problem of the Philippines is quite big. But if many of us would help/give suggestions, I think we can be one of the top tourism destinations in Asia. Your comments, suggestions and criticism on the above would be highly appreciated. Narciso Silverio, [email protected] December 22, 2005 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww |
| In the spirit of the blessed season of Christmas a paragraph from a piece by Bill Moyers on the price of democracy- eternal vigilance and why listening to false Gods can be downright dangerous. "In his recent book, The Gospel According to America, David Dark reminds us again of a lesson we seem always to be forgetting, that "as learners of freedom, we might come to understand that the price of liberty is eternal vigilance." He might well have been directly addressing the press when he wrote, "Keeping one's head safe for democracy (or avoiding the worship of false gods) will require a diligent questioning of any and all tribal storytellers. In an age of information technology, we will have to look especially hard at the forces that shape discourse and the various high-powered attempts, new every morning, to invent public reality." So be it. Bill Moyers Achtung, Achtung!!!! (Und was ist los, Schweinhund? ACA) In your piece you used the word I five times. (And what is wrong with that? Have you bothered to check how many times your favorite columnist, Conrado de Quiros, uses that same word in any of his columns? Or how many columns a month he starts with that very same word? Or do you have a morbid fixation only on me? ACA) Somehow you believe that you can have a chicken without the egg. On your past pieces, You believe that there is a dichotomy between agriculture and industry. How can you have life without both the heart and the lungs a a body. The service industry is the hands and legs but that you can do without. But the lungs without the heart or vice versa. (The dichotomy is only in your warped imagination. I asked for one hectare of land for manufacturing and, say, 999 hectares for agriculture, in a typical Philippine lowland town. You say that is heart without lungs, or vice versa. Where did you get your sense of proportion or your idea of anatomy? From a gorilla? ACA) Where (sic) you conceived immaculately also? (No, were you? ACA) Merry Christmas if you believe that Yesu was trully the Man God. (And if I don�t? ACA) R. Hiro Vaswani, [email protected] December 22, 2005 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww |
| (Sent by the office of Sen. Richard J. Gordon) The Tourism Act of 2005 Senate Bill No. 2138 Sponsorship Speech of Senator Richard J. Gordon Delivered 6 December 2005 Mr. President, colleagues in the Senate, ladies and gentlemen: I have often asked myself why our nation goes from crisis to crisis, buffeted by political storms of our own making. I have often asked why we, as a people cannot resolve with finality the controversies of our history. I have often asked myself why, despite the inherent Filipino capacity for greatness, we often find contentment in our mediocrity. Why? The answer is simple, Mr. President. Our people appeared to have no concept of a past, and thus have none of a future. We are thrown from crisis to crisis because we are ignorant of our history and thus cannot learn from it. We linger in mediocrity because, not knowing our past, we have no vision of what we can be in our future. So we linger in the present, when others race forward to embrace the future. We as a people have been looking at our own navels when we should have been looking at our own neighbors. Look around us. The average Chinese or Indian is likely to still be poorer than the average Filipino. And yet they race forward, confident of the future, realizing with pride the sheer grandeur of their civilizations that stretch back thousands of years, and they demand their place in the world, shrugging off the myth of western superiority, asserting that they were long civilized while Europeans lived in caves. They demand the power that is their birthright. Even without a civilization born at the dawn of history, our neighbors have done the same, crafting their own histories, even their myths, to give their people the pride to face the future and make their nations strong, whether it be Japan, Korea or Singapore, perhaps even Malaysia or Thailand. But we have no such sense of history. We tear down old buildings in vain pursuit of the modern. We have forgotten many of our own traditions, even the fundamental values that used to define our being Filipino. Our children learn their history in schools, but it is often nothing more than a recitation of names of dead men, which are forgotten, not with the passing of time, but with the mere passing of examinations. Mr. President, colleagues of this Chamber, ladies and gentlemen, if the Filipino is to find faith in himself, he must realize the value of his own identity � his history his culture and his homeland. He must realize the value of his own existence through dignified work. He must realize that in the midst of his own uniqueness, he is as equally important as any other member of the global community. Mr. President, colleagues of this Chamber, fellow Filipinos, I respectfully submit that it is through tourism that the Filipino can find himself and his place in the world. ECONOMIC IMPACT OF TOURISM Mr. President, forgive me for being so bold. Indeed, amid all this talk of our national budget, of a concept of an electoral system of changing our Constitution, forgive my boldness. Forgive my boldness in speaking of such an insignificant matter such as tourism when there are so many things of national importance that require this Chamber's time. Forgive the insignificance of tourism, which regularly provides employment for almost one quarter of our nation's work force � easily twice the jobs generated by the manufacturing industry � in our malls, hotels, restaurants, resorts and all other service establishments. Forgive the insignificance of tourism, which as an industry accounts for at least 13% of value added to the entire national economy, and which accounts for almost 10% of all domestic private consumption. Forgive the insignificance of tourism, which last year brought in US$2 billion into the economy � US$2 billion of fresh money, wala pa pong multiplier effect iyan, a direct injection of hard new cash, not money that just moves from hand to hand within the archipelago. Forgive me for wanting to get down to the business of generating jobs for our people, not just jobs but opportunity of pump priming the economy with foreign exchange or choosing to give better lives to our people, over the plague of politics. And this, Mr. President, with a nascent domestic tourism industry, and just 2.29 million foreign tourists last year. And we have yet to truly maximize our nation's potential as a tourism destination. We had 2.29 million foreign tourists last year, and we generated 2 billion dollars in tourist receipts. But this is hardly the tip of the global tourism iceberg. Last year, all around the world there were 763 million international tourist arrivals, generating US$623 billion for the destination countries � and that US$623 billion does not even include what these tourists paid for transportation to get there. Last year, Malaysia had 15.7 million tourists, and Thailand had 11.7 million. Hong Kong had 21 million, and even Indonesia had 5 million. Wala pa po riyan iyong domestic tourism which in the United States, for example, had easily a tourism movement of about 500 million to 600 million tourists a year since about 2002. Imagine what 10 million foreign tourists could do to the Philippine economy, when the average international tourist spends US$878 during his stay here in the Philippines. That would be almost US$9 billion injected into the arm of the economy, or almost PhP500 billion - practically half the national budget. Mr. President, consider if our own OFWs that send us at least US$9 billion a year, then we will have PhP1 trillion a year in receipts that will be generated from both entities. For every five foreign tourists that come in, we generate three new jobs for our people. For every tourist that comes in, there will be one more person to take a cab from the airport, take his meals at a restaurant during the day and drink our beer at the bars at night, check into a hotel, go to the beach and pay for a massage on any of our spas or on our white sand or buy bead bracelets and necklaces, go diving in our reefs or hike through our forests, paying for guides and equipment along the way, shop at our malls to buy our shirts, shoes and our souvenirs. Every tourist that comes in means one more person with real money that can buy our goods. Talk about the farmer who can barely make a profit today, being squeezed by the costs of his fertilizer on one hand and the middleman on the other. With ten million tourists, there will be more people who can pay more for his mangoes. Talk about the fisherman who will now be able to sell his tuna here at the resorts and restaurants instead of exporting it to Japan, and on slow days can rent out his boat to divers for day trips to nearby islands. Mr. President, during my campaign for the Senate, nakausap ko iyong ating mga farmer. Ang sabi nila, ang problema nila kapag sila ay uutang, mataas ang interes para sa abono. At kapag dumating na ang kanilang harvest ay wala na silang maipagbili sapagkat binabarat sila. Consider, Mr. President, na itong 10 million tourists ay dumating dito, ang sabi ko sa kanila, ang problema ninyo ay hindi iyong mataas na interes na binabayaran, ngunit iyong presyo na ipinagbibili ninyong bigas, mangga, papaya o anumang mga bagay na puwedeng ibenta sa mga tourist. At kung iyan ay ibebenta sa foreign tourists, dollars ang makikita riyan and certainly magkakaroon kayo ng magandang presyo sa tourism lamang. Talk about the a boy who used to loiter around the town square who can be trained and certified as a tour guide, easily earning several hundred pesos a day by just charging a dollar or two from the people he takes around town. Talk about all our industries that are dying because of cutthroat competition from foreign products that can suddenly find a new domestic market of 10 million more people with cash to burn. But the real wonder of tourism is that, those dollars that come in will stay in the economy, and will not be channeled back to some mother company abroad as the dollars earned by export manufacturing are wont to do. In fact, they will filter down to the cab drivers, to the farmers. It will filter down to the sari-sari store, to the masseurs and the waiters. And with those dollars, imagine further the multiplier effect with the hotels, the roads, seaports and airports that will be built by thousands of masons and carpenters, to generate more jobs across the nation. Imagine the investments that will go, not to some city center, but particularly to the farthest reaches of the archipelago, where people are poorest, left behind by the pace of development. Tourism is the single largest global industry because of its immense impact on an economy. Take time to think about it. Tourism is not some kid brother to trade and industry. In fact, in the face of cutthroat competition from a growing China and a rising India, just how competitive will our manufactures and exports be in the near future? Fifteen years ago, Alvin Toffler in his book "Third Wave" pointed to tourism as one of the core services to generate real employment in the twenty-first century. Ten years ago, John Naisbitt in "Global Paradox" devoted a whole chapter of his book to the importance of travel and tourism for the future world economy. But we are already in the twenty-first century. The future world economy is here and now. Talk about Malaysia that was talking about the Malaysian super corridor about a few years ago. Then suddenly, China decided to boom. And when it did boom, Malaysia immediately shuffled its investments towards tourism � promoting Malaysia in millions of dollars and in the process generating 15.7 million tourists a year � right now. We were very way behind in the game, although we have done so much to catch up. But that is cold comfort, Mr. President. I remember when I took over the Tourism Department in 2001, Vietnam had about 400,000 tourists a year, and we already had 1.2 million tourists a year. Then, sometime in 2002 or 2003, Vietnam overtook us, and today it has more tourists than the Philippines, in spite of our growth in tourism. Although we were behind when we took over tourism in the year 2000 or 2001, let me tell this Body, what we have to undergo. We underwent the storms of 9/11, SARS, the Bali bombing, bird flu, terrorist kidnappings, and we undertook kidnappings of our own citizens, of our own tourists in Dos Palmas or, for that matter, tourists from Malaysia were brought here. And we had all sorts of problems from carnappings to the province that beset the whole world. But through the WOW Philippines campaign, we manage to increase tourism in spite of that. Surviving through the last few years, we are now experiencing significant growth. Tourism is an economic engine in its own right, and given the uniqueness of the Philippine experience, it can and will be the key to bringing in investment and foreign exchange and generating jobs for our people. This is the economic impact of tourism. Ang maganda pa riyan kung magkamali man tayo puede nating i-correct right away as other countries have done. For example, when Thailand got hit by this tsunami, it allowed travelers, especially the victims, to come back to Thailand free of charge at the expense of the Thai government so that they would not lose a step in terms of tourism influx to their country. Mr. President, this is the economic impact of tourism. Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, all these countries, including China, India and Maldives, tiny Maldives, they all realize the impact of tourism on their economy. But the Philippines must learn. And unless we seriously overhaul how we manage tourism development, we will never be able to maximize its full potential to the benefit of our people. VISIONS How should tourism be? Tourism means jobs and opportunities. Tourism means that people was become united by a common heritage, and a common sense of achievement as we succeed. Tourism means protecting and preserving with pride our natural, historical and cultural endowments, while profiting from it. Tourism means that people will learn our history and our culture, will preserve our forests and our seas, not just because it can give them jobs, but because they eventually discover what it is to be Filipino. Tourism means that we can all be entrepreneurs even without finishing college. We can open our homes to tourists, who will gladly pay us for the authentic Philippine experience of our food and our hospitality and we are so doing right now through the Home Stay Programs of the Department of Tourism. Tourism means that you and I can open a small store to sell our food, our arts and our crafts. Tourism means people like Tatoy's of Iloilo, in our own Senate President's home province, is able to generate business for himself even if he is a Grade IV graduate � erect a restaurant, not just one but several restaurants of tremendous size because he is earning it from both domestic and foreign tourists. Vendors in Intramuros who can now afford false teeth after the WOW Philippines campaign out there where they were given uniforms and they were able to sell taho and their wares and pretty soon they were able to buy false teeth and educate their children as well. A dishwasher in Olongapo coming from Iloilo by the name of Fernando whom I saw in the campaign. I grew up with this young man. We were both young boys and we used to play basketball. He could not even speak Tagalog very well. I remember my mother telling him: "Fernando, you are a dishwasher. Kailangan isipin mo na lalaki ka. Tingnan mo iyong kusinero natin. Iyong chief cook natin na si Mr. Noriega. Kapag pinag-aralan mo ang kanyang niluluto, someday you can also be a chef in your own restaurant or in another hotel or restaurant. Mr. President, during the campaign for the Senate, I encountered this man who tried to see me when I first went to Iloilo and I did not. Kate, my wife, was also approached by the reporters saying that Fernando was looking for us. Let me tell our colleagues that the last time I came back to Passi during the campaign, I went to Passi Garden Hotel and there I saw Fernando, the chef, the chief cook of the hotel, hugging me and with tears in his eyes saying the story I just told, that my mother told him: Go beyond being a dishwasher and become a chef and learn to become a great chef. And, indeed, Fernando is that chef that we speak of today. So, one can be a head chef in a hotel and in tourism. Even if one is only a Grade IV graduate, he can be somebody better than what he is today. Tourism means that we can rebuild our Intramuros, and make it the history town of the Philippines. Where the governor general's house can be rebuilt in grand turn-of-the-century style hotel, with authentic antique furnishings. Where museums like the Light and Sound Show in Intramuros built in accordance with the plans of the first convent for nuns in the Philippines was built. It can be opened to celebrate the full history not just of Intramuros, but of the legacy of Spain and the Catholic Church, the United States, China, India and the contributions of Islam, as well as other ethnic communities to our country's history and development, where people can take leisurely walks along the banks of the Pasig, much like Clarke Quay and Boat Quay in Singapore. Tourism means that Cavite can have people flocking to its museums, to learn, embrace and profit from its role in the Revolution. We can imagine Cavite and Batangas resorts getting major upgrades, and fulfilling their full potential as the nearest beaches to Manila. Tourism means that the hundred islands in Pangasinan can be truly developed and promoted as a world-class destination. The long beaches of Pangasinan, the long beaches of Zambales, of La Union in the North, all the way to Ilocos Sur, all the way to Laoag, can even become better than Bali or Phuket. Tourism means that we can maximize the airports of Laoag, San Fernando, Baguio and Bagabag, tying together the beaches of Pagudpod and La Union to Baguio, the Banaue Rice Terraces and Vigan. We can imagine tourism enterprise zones creating hubs tying together central Luzon, from Bataan to Zambales all the way to Tarlac, Nueva Ecija, and all the way to Pampanga and coast-to-coast from Aurora to the west coast of Subic Bay. We can see tourism hubs in Western Visayas, from Boracay and Guimaras' beaches, to Iloilo' and Bacolod's history, to Capiz' seafood, as well as the Eastern Visayas region, from Cebu all the way to Samar and Leyte, to the landings of MacArthur in Leyte, the caves in Samar and Leyte as well. We can see not just resorts but complete tourism communities along the coasts of Palawan, bringing people to explore Tubbataha, as well as other islands. I am sure our colleagues are not aware of this. There 1,500 islands in Palawan alone. They constitute one-fifth of the country's islands. And we can see the same tourism zone hubs down south in Bohol and Cebu, in Davao and Siargao, as well as Cagayan de Oro. We can imagine tourism zones maximizing the value of our airports and seaports, so that the revenues generated from increased terminal fees can improve facilities to make them world class. Think of Naga Airport in Bicol that can lead to the development of Caramoan. For instance, one that have yet to be truly tied into the tourism boom generated by whalesharks in Donsol, are Sorsogon and Mayon volcano in Legazpi. Tourism means that our doctors and nurses can stay here, as foreigners come here for medical treatment, paying top dollar for our world-class hospitals and professionals. I was just in India, Mr. President, and medical tourism in India is booming. There was a guy in the front pages of Hindustan Times, I think it was, who got himself an operation, a heart bypass, his third one, which he could not pay for, his insurance no longer covered and which he was able to get, administered by an Indian Doctor for $10,000. And yet, the Indian doctor did not leave because he was finding his future in his own native India. The beauty of this bill is that the potential for development is limited only by our imaginations, and our willingness to commit sustainable tourism as a strategy for rapid development. At this point, Mr. President, I just want to point out that we had about 15 hearings in addition to technical working group meetings. Unfortunately, not all our members were able to attend the committee hearings. That is why I am making room for amendments by the Senate and by the session, as well as committee amendments, as we go along when we start doing the same because we would like this to be the product of a Senate committee, practically acting as a whole when we start deliberating on this bill for amendments. PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS Tourism means job, Mr. President. To make those jobs, tourism governance must be streamlined. These tourism agencies of government must have the power to discipline the tourism sector. No more taxis ripping us off when we get one at the airport. We are no longer helpless. The Department of Tourism can now impose, for example, tourism taxis that must be numbered so that there will be accountability, and drivers wearing uniform not only in the taxis and in the jeepneys but in the busses as well. Reports have to keep the beachfront clear, and respect the right of every single person to have access to the beach. Mr. President, we have a very bad habit in this country. The beaches belong only to the few. We cover the beaches with the richest, the rich villas and all that, when in fact, we should really be like the beaches of Bali or the beaches of Hawaii where the beaches are free and clear so that easement of view is provided to the poorest member of the community as well as it is with the rich; and we must develop the backside of the beach for hotels so that they can indeed have more employment generation in the process. No more exorbitant rates or fees totally disproportionate to the services given. The tourism agencies of government must be able to advertise competitively on CNN and BBC. Not only there, but in national TVs, TV channels in other countries, on their trains, on their aircraft, on their radio and TV stations, in their newspapers, and other international channels, so that the world can know of the beauty of the Philippines. Already, we are beginning to see that, Mr. President. We saw that when I was the Secretary of Tourism. In CNN. In BBC. We see that now, when we see taxis in England with WOW, Philippines! WOW, Cebu! WOW, Bohol! And in Hong Kong, the same thing. The tourism agencies of government must be able to create world-class tourism zones, which highlight the best of the Filipino and the Philippines. This is what tourism governance should be, and this law will make that a reality. The Department of Tourism has never been able to fully and truly regulate tourism industries to ensure the quality of the tourism experience. What power it had was diluted even further when tourism was devolved to the local governments inadvertently. I know that the bill of Senator Pimentel, when he enacted the bill on the Local Government Code, meant very well. But in the process, inadvertently, it perhaps did a little damage to the tourism industry. Not just a little damage but perhaps significant damage in the sense that nobody is accountable as to who is going to discipline the errant hotel operator. And that is why, in this bill, Mr. President, there are proposals that will make it a joint undertaking but with the Department of Tourism having the final say, if nothing is undertaken by the respective agencies. The Philippine Tourism Authority(PTA) has never truly developed tourism infrastructure, which was its original purpose, worthy of the five hundred million pesos today that it gets annually from travel taxes, and eight hundred million pesos in the past, even a billion pesos in the past that they got. Walang maipakita ang PTA kundi ang mga lugar na tumatakbo. And, Mr. President, let me tell you this. It has capitalized and established only one. It has capitalized from the travel taxes a lot of businesses kuno, but actually, only one generates any real revenue. Lahat po, lugi. And iyon pang nag-i-earn ng revenue ay nili-lease lamang ng PTA. Kaya medyo masakit po iyan sapagkat pagawa ng pagawa pero hindi naman kumikita at iyan ay dapat i -privatize ayon sa bill na ito. When the Philippine Conventions and Visitors Corporation was established, Manila was the convention capital of Asia in the '80s. Number one in Asia, Mr. President. And No. 8 in the whole world ang convention center natin. Today, we are nowhere on the radar screen because PCVC does not have the funds to truly market the nation as a convention destination let alone an exhibition center, the paradigm exchange. We did not keep up. Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, all of these countries including India, have massive tourism convention centers together with exhibition centers where they can, in fact, put airplanes, put cars and put all sorts of equipment in many, many hectares of exhibition centers. To address these issues, Senate Bill No. 2138 seeks to define the shared responsibility of national and local governments in tourism development. First, local governments will become responsible in the use of powers delegated to them, requiring them to draft and implement tourism development plans as a condition to their continued exercise of licensing and regulatory powers over tourism enterprises. Second - - and this is important - - the Department of Tourism(DOT) will train local governments to become self � reliant in enforcing tourism standards and policies. That is Section 37. Third, all tourism enterprises must undergo mandatory accreditation with the DOT, as well as training, and any enterprise that fails to meet standards may suffer cancellation of business permits by the local government or the DOT depending on the circumstances (Section 35). Thus, the quality of the Philippine tourism experience can be enhanced and improved. Every tourist who is ripped off by a taxi driver, a resort, or a vendor at a mall, can complain to the DOT. Just as in Hong Kong, one can complain to the Hong Kong Travel and Tourism Board when one is ripped off in a bar or a mall or a shop. And the DOT working closely with the Local Government Unit(LGU) as well as the travel business can finally have the teeth to act on those complaints. Every resort that squats on the easement of foreshore land, that fails to process its waste properly, can be finally disciplined by the DOT and the LGU working together to developed tourism. It is useless, however, to have an excellent product that no one knows exists. It is fundamentally important that Tourism Philippines has the means to promote the Philippines competitively in the international arena. An analysis of international promotions budgets of countries within the region reveals a strong relationship between promotional budgets and tourism arrivals. In 2002, Thailand and Malaysia spent $47.5 million and $52 million to $80 million on Malaysia tourism promotions, and in 2003, both countries received 10 million tourists. In 2003, I heard that both committed to spend in excess of $70 million. In fact, I heard Malaysia spent $120 million in 2004. They received 11.7and 15.7 million visitors, respectively. Only nations that are prepared to commit promotions budgets in excess of $50 million can achieve tourism arrivals in excess of 10 million visitors. Realizing this, Singapore, for instance, boosted its promotions budget for 2005 to 76 million, in the hopes of taking its 8.3 million visitors in 2004 beyond 10 million in 2005. But think of this, Colleagues in this Chamber, it takes less than five dollars to persuade a tourist to come to our country, and yet he will spend almost $900 when he gets here. It is thus absolutely necessary to establish a tourism fund that can compete. Considering that PCVC and the promotions departments of DOT and PTA - - yes, each one of these has marketing departments - - will be integrated into Tourism Philippines, the national budget allocated to promotions will now be directed to Tourism Philippines as well. We have to redirect the travel tax. We must get different government corporations that benefit from tourism. The international airports and seaports should provide a share of their income to tourism development. They should give something back to the industry. The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation should also allocate a certain portion of its profits for tourism. We can collect a minimal fee from foreign tourists staying at hotels and resorts. All this can go into a common fund that can yield US$50 million, at least half of which must be directed to promotions, and the remainder for training, infrastructure, and preservation. This fund will be managed by a board composed of private and public sector representatives, to ensure that the fund goes back to benefit the sector that contributes to it (Section 41). A comprehensive marketing plan will be drafted and implemented, and Tourism Philippines must even coordinate with the investment promotions agencies of the government to promote the nation as a destination for tourism and investment (Section 48). Mr. President, we cannot stay in the country in order to promote tourism. This representation had to go all over the world because we had no promotion money to create attention beyond our reach. It is pointless to set a goal of 10 million tourists if there are no rooms to accommodate them. Already in Cebu, Mr. President, we are told by travel agents and travel operators that it has become a hoteliers market. They are being told to give pay advances before the tourists arrive, and that is hard for our travel operators. That is why; we have to really encourage the building of hotels, resorts and other accouterments for the tourists to provide for good infrastructure. It is for this reason that the Tourism Enterprise Zone Authority(TEZA) will be created to bring in domestic and international investments to develop entire tourism zones, to build hotels and resorts, malls and museums, and all sorts of other tourism enterprises. The concept of TEZA borrows heavily from a framework that has been proven to work, that of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority(SBMA) and the Philippine Economic Zone Authority(PEZA). However, the SBMA framework and PEZA framework itself are insufficient to deal with the needs of a tourism zone. Tourism enterprises have needs vastly different from those of the manufacturing industry, and the grant of incentives must be tailor-fit to meet those needs. Not only that, but running a tourism zone requires comprehensive planning in a way that makes development sustainable, development that respects the people, the culture and the environment. TEZA will be fast, flexible, friendly, forward-looking, firm and fair. It will be fast as a special government corporation is created to facilitate investments and oversee management of zones to ensure sustainable development. It will be flexible, allowing the national government, local governments, private sector, NGOs, foreign investors to come together in different ways to acquire land, and establish and run a tourism zone. It will be friendly. There will be no corruption, hopefully, by meeting the specific needs of tourism enterprises. It will be forward-looking, by aiming for sustainable development goals. By having a fund that in case we have a disaster, we can immediately recover, even do as Thailand does � subsidize people coming to the Philippines so that we could re-launch our tourism initiatives should the disaster like kidnapping or a bombing occur here in the Philippines. Mr. President, TEZA will supervise development to prevent the untrammeled consumerism that normally plagues tourism. It will be fair and firm towards investment, requiring investors to adhere to a development plan, and impose penalties for violations. Last, even if we do develop capacity, improve our product, and make ourselves known, how easy will it be to bring tourists from Europe when we do not have direct flights there? The Secretary of Tourism must have the power to open up routes for tourists, to make it easier for them to come to our islands from any part of the world. Imagine flights coming straight from Japan, Korea, and China to Laoag or Bohol, flights from Europe to Caticlan or Siargao, or from the United States to Cebu, Davao, Clark or Subic which is already happening. And I ask this august Body to decide, in its own wisdom, to pursue why I say we can protect Philippine Airlines(PAL) but we are in the tourism business. We are not in the airline industry business; we should try and make sure that we ratchet up our capability to allow open skies policy as much as we can boost trade and tourism for our country. CONCLUSION I began this speech, Mr. President, by speaking about the Filipino identity, about how a lack of sense of self-worth as a people is the source of many, if not all, our problems as a society. I have spoken about the economic impact of tourism, and the immense potential tourism has for our country. But what does tourism hold for our people and our sense of self-worth? Tourism has the great potential of making our people interested once again in what the Filipino is truly all about. The Senate President will remember, how we did "Holiday Economics" by rationalizing public holidays into long weekends, how we incorporated during our stint in Tourism what we call "the traveling all the way from Manila all the way to Dipolog" by way of what we call the highway, the "archipelagic highway" that we have created using ferry boats as well as cars and buses that connect to the islands of the Philippines. Tourism, Mr. President, will show the richness of our history and our culture, and the blessings of nature. Tourism is about the Filipino reacquiring dignity through work, and a sense of accomplishment and unity in achieving the ever-elusive goal of development. The village lout who becomes a tour guide to earn a few dollars realizes the grandeur and importance of history. The fisherman who takes divers out to a coral reef, who asks the drivers and the guides in Donsol, Sorsogon to dynamite fish, and hunt the butanding or the whale shark, realizes the pointlessness of dynamite and cyanide fishing. He acts now as a guide to show off the divers how to approach the gentle butanding and make as much as P2,500 per dive instead of hunting endangered species and he begins to care about preserving the beauty of this country. Tourism is about our people preserving with pride our natural, historical and cultural endowments, while profiting from doing so. Mr. President, tourism is a way upon which we can get out of poverty and generate the pride and dignity that our people have so long been looking for. Mr. President, we have a saying in tourism that I keep on saying again and again: "Where tourism advances, poverty retreats." Thank you very much, Mr. President wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Reaction to Sen. Gordon and the Tourism Act In the Sponsorship Speech of Senator Richard J. Gordon, he said "The tourism agencies of government must be able to advertise competitively on CNN and BBC. Not only there, but in national TVs, TV channels in other countries, on their trains, on their aircraft, on their radio and TV stations, in their newspapers, and other international channels, so that the world can know of the beauty of the Philippines." It would seem that Sen. Gordon may not be aware of the internet alternative as a way to promote tourism. More than 20 years ago, advertising on CNN and BBC would be the best way of attracting foreign tourists. At that time, direct personalized advertising to foreigners was impractical and possibly more expensive because mail communication was very slow and an international phone call was quite expensive. But with the advent of the internet, the picture had changed. E-mails can be sent and received regardless of distance in a matter of seconds. Internet phone calls are quite cheap. I've heard that one is offering it for free. One can email a digitized movie attachment to another and view it on a PC. Hence, what can be shown on a TV can also be sent and shown on a PC. Note that advertisements on TV or radio are similar to spam on the internet (thousands of copies of same unwanted e-mail sent to individual e-mail accounts or Usenet newsgroups). The only difference is that ads on TV, etc. are paid for. Although spam is free, it is not a good way to advertise our country. Some Phil. companies like PAL have websites that advertises some Phil. tourist spots. This is useful but only to a limited extent because only Filipinos and foreigner tourists who have already decided to tour the Philippines will be most likely the only ones who will view them. I think the best tourism use of the internet is the hiring/training of tourist 'salesmen' who will do personalized selling of our country to foreigners. This idea is just an improved version of Sen. Gordon's idea when he was secretary of Tourism: ask each overseas Pinoy to convince at least 1 foreigner each year to come and visit the Phil. Note that some individuals/companies are currently doing personalized selling of their products in the internet. When my friend was doing a research on 'novena to st. joseph', he saw an ad re 'Effective Prayer'. Out of curiosity, he went to its site. Now, they are doing personalized selling by asking him questions like 'prayer for what', etc. he is interested in then e-mailing him details about his interests. Comparing the car and real estate industries with tourism, the former can do well with advertisements alone with lesser need for salesmen than that of 'foreign' tourism for the following reasons; 1. A prospective buyer of a a. car can not only actually look at the car, its engine, etc., he can also test drive the car and easily consult a mechanic and/or owner of that car model b. house or lot can readily make an actual house or site inspection and ask around people who are owners of adjoining houses or lots. In the case of a prospective 'foreign' tourist to a place, he won't usually have the money and time to have an actual look at the place before he tours it. Different tourists have also different likes, dislikes and interests. It would be hard to show all of them in one ad. Hence, a salesman would have served his needs better by showing in detail only the things that interests him. Note that many viewers would not watch the TV when ads are played. Some men may continue watching the Malaysian ad on BBC just to look at the lady in bikini. The agent also gives the interaction some personal touch by answering any question the prospect might have. In view of the foregoing, I believe that this strategy is better than just advertising the Phil. on TV, radio and newspapers. Note that most of the commission expense will plow back to Phil economy. Advertising on CNN and BBC may still be done but it need not be a big expense. I think the car and real estate industries have salesmen because they have learned from experience that their salesmen helped them have bigger sales volumes. Note that salesmen are often known to increase the overall sales of the whole industry because a few customers who have no plan of buying a product are convinced by them to buy it. In 1977, Manila Bankers Life Insurance sold 2 insurance plans. The first plan had a lower rate of return but higher agent�s commission compared to the second which had a higher rate of return but lower commission. Though the second was advertised in newspapers, its sales were much lower compared to the second. The main reason for the big difference most likely was the agents who exerted effort to sell the first plan over the second. My idea about tourism promotion would include the following: 1. Experts in sales to design and prepare all training and promotion materials (video, text and audio) including optimal approaching and selling strategies and procedures. 2. Recruit and train as many interested Filipinos to sell our country to foreigners. The only requirements are that one should have an e-mail account + access to internet and CD/DVD Writer so training and promotion materials including video, text and audio ads can readily be sent to them and they can do their job through e-mail or direct personal contact. Although it is good to be overseas where one can interact with foreigners directly, it does not have to be so. Since it is easy for one to devote only an hour or so a day, it is ok for one to have another full-time job. Since most communications with the agents will be done through e-mail, there is no problem if there are more than a million agents. 3. The first/opening message/approach might be a general one describing 'paradise' (beautiful things our country can offer). It may be e-mailed to a relative, friend, officemate, neighbor or e-mail group where he is a member or discussed directly with them. For a prospect who shows interest, agent finds out things he would like to see/experience then present in detail only those things. Agent should encourage him to ask questions. For questions the agent can not answer, he refers them to tourism help desk then get back to his prospect. 4. It would be good if the agents are provided with names/phone no./email address of persons living near the prospect and who toured our country and are willing to give a good word about us. Their testimonies can help a lot in removing doubts or worries about the Phil. security. 5. Commission may not necessarily be in cash. It may be hotel accommodation, plane ticket, etc. which may be encashed by selling it to another. 6. The tourism e-mail group can discuss problems, questions of agents and corresponding answers, success stories of agents, suggestions, etc. Your comments, suggestions and criticism on the above would be highly appreciated. Nars Silverio, [email protected] December 27, 2005 OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO |
| Sir, I agree with your assessment of the government and tourism outlook in the Philippines. One can walk into any tourist office in the United States and not see one picture, one slogan, or the word PHILIPPINES visible. Why is that? Also, the once gorgeous Manila Hotel has gone to the dogs. The person or persons at its helm seems uninterested, dispassionate and blatantly uncaring whether it lives or dies. A one-time magnificent and gracious, elegant lady of the Orient is slowly suffocating. How can that be allowed? Did not the Philippine government have a say so in its future during the court hearings some years ago? I am an American who was born in the Philippines years ago and was interned by the Japanese during the war. I now live in the United States but take groups of military POWS and civilian expats back each year. I have been doing this for ten years and have always stayed at the Manila Hotel with my tours. This coming year, however, I have made other hotel plans, much to my sadness. After my last Manila trip this year I took my group to Saigon. The people there are excited and eager, making great strides in tourism and business. It is gaining pride, strength and momentum and will do well. I consider the Philippines my home as well as the United States. I also take great pride and joy by standing by this statement. It pains me to see an otherwise important and beautiful country not keeping in step. Happy New Year, Jean Jansen, [email protected] Jan. 04, 2006 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww |
| was wondering if you would like an interview with me and the problems I have been having as they relate to tourism...It would have to be anonymous but I think it should serve as a wake up call for this government....They NEED TO GET SERIOUS....They�re just placating the people with this talk of tourism... If they cannot provide the basic tourism infrastructure by means of implementing existing laws, how can we as an industry compete...let alone develop resorts and things like medical tourism? As a foreigner, I feel it is horrible the way I have been welcomed when your president has called for efforts to make investment attractive to foreigners. How can I feel good about a two million dollar investment when all I get is being shaken down by local officials and the non implementation of noise laws in the area where we are...a TDZ...which, I understand, is a tourism development zone. (A foreigner-tourism investor), [email protected] Jan. 26, 2006 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww |