Doing our homework first

I have been writing for decades about our need to do our homework first before we spend serious money trying to get foreign tourists to visit our country.

My constant fear is that we may stumble on such a fantastic marketing campaign and tourists actually come here in droves, only to be seriously disappointed. Then, word of mouth and nasty internet reviews will kill our tourism industry for good.

But no one at the Department of Tourism heeded my call until the current secretary took office. It seems that the bureaucrats have always been seduced by the glamor of being tourists themselves… of seeing the world at taxpayers’ expense and never mind their real mission.

What homework are we talking about? For starters, the airports, with particular focus on NAIA. We cannot welcome quality and high spending tourists with an airport so Third World in look and experience.

Okay, one airport, Mactan Cebu is now quite respectable, thanks to a private sector company responsible for its management. San Miguel’s new airport in Bulacan promises to really put us in the running… but that’s at least five years away.

Then there is land transportation. Tourists landing at NAIA will likely be victimized by taxi drivers right at the start of their visit. At least in Cebu, they have been holding seminars and telling the taxi drivers they have to protect the tourists because tourism is a major livelihood generator for them.

That’s the other homework. We need the government, from DOT to LGUs, to conduct a widespread campaign to spell out the value of the tourism industry to ordinary Filipinos. Every Filipino must be made to feel that he or she has the obligation to protect the image of Filipinos as honest and hospitable people.

At long last, DOT is launching a tourism promotion campaign aimed at a domestic audience of stakeholders in the tourism industry. It is now on YouTube and I am told will be cut down into 30 second segments for airing on regular television.

That video is significant in the way it explains to Filipinos why tourism is important, not just because of jobs being created, but also the sense of national pride it generates. Hopefully, if the video is seen repeatedly by a good number of Filipinos, we will start to have a tourism culture that could be the bedrock of an important industry.

In this regard, I am told that SM and Ayala cinemas have agreed to air the video in all their theaters.

Other than airports, tourists also need decent restrooms. In this regard, Petron has partnered with DOT to provide world class quality restrooms in selected gasoline stations nationwide.

Under the partnership, some 200 Petron stations will undergo an accreditation process. Each one will be assessed based on design and environmental management system, amenities and facilities, cleanliness, and safety. Accredited stations will be marked with the DOT Seal of Approval, similar to a “Good Housekeeping” seal.

Petron should also come up with a good highway directional signage program. We may have the largest and most colorful billboards, but good directional signs outside of expressways are rare. I always get lost on the turn to Camiling from MacArthur Highway, for instance.

There are other things we need: emergency medical facilities in key tourism sites, safe water and high standards for sewage handling, among others. These are in DOT’s to-do list.

How important is tourism to our economy?

The Philippine Statistics Authority estimated the contribution of the tourism industry to the Philippine economy at 12.7 percent in 2018 amounting to P2.2 trillion.

Compared to the country’s total exports, the share of inbound tourism expenditure was eight percent. Inbound tourism ranked third among the biggest export items in 2018, after miscellaneous services at 31.5 percent and semiconductors at 22.8 percent.

Domestic tourism expenditure represents 24.9 percent of the household final consumption expenditure (HFCE) in 2018.

Employment in tourism characteristic industries was estimated at 5.4 million in 2018. Share of employment in tourism industries to total employment in the country was recorded at 13 percent in 2018.

An economist with years of experience dealing with local communities, Tourism Secretary Berna Romulo Puyat has also launched a program designed to transform communities towards resilient, inclusive and sustainable tourism.

Sec. Puyat convinced the World Bank and the ADB to provide $400-million assistance in two separate loan packages to enhance tourism infrastructure.      

Under the program, Bohol, Siargao, Siquijor, Davao City and Samal Island were identified as the key targeted destinations. This shoots to bits the claim of certain parties that the DOT is focused on Metro Manila.

These five sites were selected because of the rapid increase of tourism demand, potential for future development, lack of financing to address emerging capital investment needs, rich cultural heritage sites and biodiversity, and socio-economic impact for poverty alleviation.

“With the support of the World Bank, we will enhance tourism infrastructure, livelihood, disaster risk reduction and crisis management, and tourism policy and regulation,” Secretary Puyat said.

Secretary Puyat is also working with the Asian Development Bank under the same program for two other destinations, namely, Coron and El Nido in Palawan.

The Metro Manila site on DOT’s priority is Intramuros. It is our Eiffel Tower. Some 2.2 million people visited Intramuros in the first half of this year.

The problem with Intramuros is more complex because neglect through the years enabled unscrupulous people to get fake land titles in the heritage site, most likely with connivance of government officials.

The good news is that President Duterte has ordered the justice department to clear up the mess. The President has ordered the development of Intramuros as an important heritage site.

DOT, under Sec. Puyat, is focused not just on ensuring fun for tourists in the Philippines, but also making the industry produce the livelihoods our people need in the countryside.

Finally, we are doing our homework even as we promote our country to attract foreign tourists.

Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @boochanco