Tourists aren’t deterred by travel warnings to the Philippines, but by a host of other factors, major tourism industry players said Monday.
“There are not enough flights, not enough seat capacity, ill-prepared marketing and the quality of accommodations is not good enough,” said Alejandra Clemente, president of the Federation of Tourism Industries of the Philippines (FTIP).
Simply put, the Philippines is “not ready” to take in tourists in large numbers, Clemente said in a press conference at the Mandarin Oriental called by tourism stakeholders in support of embattled Tourism Secretary Alberto Lim.
Clemente said travel advisories cautioning foreigners about purported terrorist threats in the Philippines hardly made a dent in tourist arrivals.
She said 2.8 million arrivals had been so far recorded this year, including returning Filipinos, compared to about 3 million last year.
Even the Manila bus hostage-taking incident that left eight Chinese tourists and the Filipino gunman dead on Aug. 23 had not caused a noticeable decrease in the number of tourists, she said.
Holiday security
On Monday, Philippine National Police Director General Raul Bacalzo announced he was fielding more police units in tourist spots across the country for the Christmas holidays.
Bacalzo and Lim signed an agreement that will pave the way for the establishment of the Tourist-Oriented Police for Community Order and Protection Program. Pilot projects will be set up in 14 travel destinations, according to the deal.
Clemente said the problem went deeper than security issues, noting that the government was not being aggressive enough in marketing the country and the lack of an open skies agreement with other countries heavily restricted potential tourism traffic.
But she said there was reason to be optimistic about the chances of the Philippines becoming a major tourism destination, if it effectively taps the lucrative Japan and Korean markets.
She noted that All Nippon Airways would begin direct flights from Japan to the Philippines at the end of February, while Delta Air Lines was expected to add two flights per week in its US-Japan-Philippines route.
Former Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Jose Luis Yulo said developed countries were shifting their attention to Asia, particularly China, and this opened a lot of possibilities for Philippine tourism.
“The Western world is not only looking at China, but other countries in Asia, and that’s where we should focus,” Yulo said during the open forum.
Slogan fiasco
Commenting on the “Pilipinas Kay Ganda” fiasco, the stakeholders said no tourism slogan could instantly solve the industry’s problems.
Marciano Ragaza, president of Travel Enterprise and former president of the Philippine Travel Agencies Association, said the Department of Tourism had promised a more “democratic process” in choosing a new slogan.
The speakers mostly agreed that it was time to rest the “Wow Philippines” slogan, which former Tourism Secretary Richard Gordon had championed.
“It was already working for several years, so I feel we need a new slogan to boost our image, and to speak better to what we can sell,” said Margie Moran Floirendo, former president of the Davao Tourism Association and former chair of the
Southern Philippines Regional Tourism Council. With a report from Alcuin Papa
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Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer
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