Celebrating World Tourism Day!

It is the 36th celebration of World Tourism Day, a global event that seeks to promote and foster awareness of the importance of Tourism in its social, cultural, political and economic value. Indeed there are nations whose economies largely depend on their tourism. Egypt, Spain are examples of such economies and in the Philippines, Philippine Airlines (PAL) started our tourism by promoting the City of Baguio for its cool weather and the City of Zamboanga for its colorful Moro Vintas. But that was a long time ago!

In Cebu, we have had the statue of Lapu-Lapu in Mactan Island where he killed our first European tourist Ferdinand Magellan and the cross that he erected in the historic Sto. Niño Basilica. But frankly speaking, there wasn’t really any tourism for Cebu at all until the late Anos Fonacier (he recently passed away just last Sept. 13) flew around the Island of Cebu searching for potential spots for tourism and then he constructed the Cebu Plaza Hotel (now the Marco Polo Plaza Hotel) and the Zamboanga Plaza Hotel in Pasonangca Park where I had my honeymoon with my wife eons ago. 

To sell Cebu especially in the mid-’80s when the Philippines had a poor global reputation as a dangerous place (now it is only dangerous if you are a drug lord or pusher) Fonacier came up with a very novel promotion entitled “An Island in the Pacific.” When I went for a visit to Tokyo that year, I couldn’t help but notice the brochures in almost all the taxicabs in Tokyo with the same “An Island in the Pacific” slogan. It was then that I realized that the brochure was about the beaches of Cebu, notably the Tambuli Beach Resort which was also owned by Fonacier.

Soon, Japanese tourists were coming to Cebu through chartered flights, which eventually became commercial flights and then more tourist destinations were discovered like the dive spots of Moalboal and then top resorts like the Shangri-La’s Mactan Resort and Spa and Plantation Bay opened up and the rest is history. Then 20 years ago, we started celebrating the Sinulog Festival which is now considered Asia’s biggest tourism drawer.

Years later, Fonacier (who comes from Ilocos Norte and bestowed the title of Son of Cebu) looked for tourism destinations in Bohol and discovered the beaches of Panglao Island and the dive spot in Balicasag Island was discovered. When she was Governor of Cebu, then Gov. Gwen F. Garcia established the “Suroy-Soruy Program” and soon, the so-called Tourism Cebooom spread throughout the entire Province of Cebu. Today, tourist flock to the sighting of the Whale Sharks (Butanding) in Oslob and visit the Marian Pilgrimage of Simala or go to Anika Beach Resort in Sta. Fe Bantayan Island because we proudly have tourism based economy.

Last Saturday, since I cannot yet play golf or ride my motorcycle due to my kidney problems, I accompanied Mr. Tourism, Consul Robert “Bobby” Joseph (he has since been dubbed Adopted Son of Cebu) who was invited to speak before the 1st Visayas Junior Tourism and Hospitality Congress dubbed “Igniting Ripples of Change: empowering future movers of the industry “ at the Michael Richartz Tourism Center of the University of San Carlos (USC) Talamban Campus (a beautiful 500-plus capacity theater which unfortunately did not have an accessible comfort room). It was my first time to visit that Tourism Center.

Most businessmen use their weekends to play golf or other sports or go on a short weekend trip… but not Bobby Joseph… he accepts invitations (last week he was in Tuguegarao in Northern Luzon) to exhort students to embrace a culture of tourism. Bobby Joseph who is suffering from bouts of cancer was in his element, energizing the youth… the future leaders in the tourism industry. When he asked them what their ambitions are… one would say, “To be a flight stewardess!” But Bobby Joseph tells them to aim higher… and aim to be President of Philippine Airlines. But when he asked them who was the president of PAL… the answer was Lucio Tan. But he corrected them that the PAL president was Jaime Bautista.

Bobby Joseph then told the students. “It is in our culture not to volunteer, not to be assertive, not to dream big, stay simple, give more respect to others and stay quiet to avoid any miscommunication. Anyone who does the opposite is not normal but, this has got to change if we want to be competitive but not combative, assertive but not aggressive.”

After his hour and a half talk in USC Talamban Campus we huffed over to the Atlantic Hall of the Waterfront Hotel for the Youth Tourism Congress 2016 held by my alma mater, the University of San Jose-Recoletos where he once more imparted his years in the Tourism Industry, which is why Tourism Secretary Wanda Teo made him her adviser, otherwise she should be attending these forums on tourism. What a full day we had last Saturday but all that in the name of supporting the nation’s tourism industry, which is to say a very vigorous industry full of hope for our future.

*      *      *

E-mail: [email protected] or [email protected].