Top travel spot

ESTORIL – Arriving in this picturesque Portuguese coastal town last Monday, I had planned to test the train service, but was disappointed to find out that the train workers were on strike over pay and safety issues.

The strike was just one of the manifestations that Portugal – the “P” in the Eurozone debt crisis acronym PIIGS (with Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain) – has not yet fully recovered from its recession and painful austerity measures.

A local tour guide named Filipe told me that at the height of the financial crisis, the country saw an exodus of people, particularly the youth, seeking better job opportunities overseas. Does that sound familiar?

But now with the economy recovering, Filipe said the exodus has stopped and many of those who left have returned. Purchasing power has not risen back to pre-crisis levels. Filipe also complains about soaring rent, which he says is being driven up by foreigners, many of them Chinese, who are leasing or buying housing units as vacation homes. Still, the economy has improved and life has become easier for Filipe.

Among the drivers of the recovery is tourism. Last March the president of the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) said Portugal is now one of the top five most visited countries in Europe.

In 2017 the country was picked as the top destination in the World Travel Awards after the number of visitors rose by 12 percent to 12.7 million. Tourism in Portugal has boomed so much that the WTTC is warning against “overtourism.”

* * *

Portugal’s weak economy has an upside: it’s a more affordable destination compared to other European Union states, and foreign travelers are taking notice. The growth in visitors is good news especially for people like Filipe, who takes his business seriously: he has a master’s degree in tourism management.

The WTTC cites Portugal’s “very rich culture, amazing gastronomy” as its attractions, in addition to its beaches, balmy climate, historic sites and golf courses.

Personal safety is also a major factor for success in tourism. Portugal has a low crime rate and has been spared so far from terrorist attacks although these have not been ruled out. Filipe told me that if I left my mobile phone in a restaurant, it was highly likely that it would still be there if I returned for it. Locals told me it was safe for me to walk around alone even until past midnight.

As in any urban area, it is still prudent to avoid dark, isolated areas in Estoril and Cascais. But there’s low probability of being mugged and stabbed dead for your cell phone, or being kidnapped for ransom and strangled to death by cops right inside the national police headquarters. In the unlikely event that it happens, there won’t be an interminable wait for justice, as is being experienced in Manila by the relatives of South Korean businessman Jee Ick-joo.

I was also warned that during rush hour when the trains here are packed, there could be pickpockets. While trying to avoid profiling and being politically incorrect, some Portuguese let on that the pickpockets are mainly migrants. But so far Portugal is more tolerant than several other European states in its immigration policy.

This is a reflection of the general attitude of Portuguese toward foreigners. The culture is warm and welcoming. Throughout my stay the locals I encountered have been friendly.

There were exceptions: a woman at the train ticketing counter in Cascais and a man assigned near the tracks behaved like sourpusses suffering from hemorrhoids. That kind of service does not deserve better pay.

* * *

We already have this edge – a natural friendliness and flair for tender loving care, which makes our workforce top-rated for the health professions, call centers and other service-oriented sectors including tourism.

Our country is blessed with natural attractions and a couple of man-made ones such as the centuries-old churches. As usual during my foreign trips, I invite any foreigner I meet here to visit the Philippines.  But our tourism strengths need a lot of enhancement.

This area of Portugal, for example, has rolling hills facing the Atlantic, with an extensive beach that at one point meets the wide mouth of the longest river in the Iberian peninsula, the Tagus. The sand is not as white or powdery as in Boracay, but it’s clean throughout.

The coastline is dotted with ancient forts, many of which were built when the Portuguese controlled or influenced nearly half the entire planet. That was around the same period that Portuguese explorer Fernando Magallanes, in a voyage to the East Indies sponsored by Spain’s King Felipe, “discovered” an archipelago of 7,100 islands. Subsequent expeditions gave the archipelago the name Las Islas Filipinas.

Running parallel to the coastline here from Cascais to Lisbon is the railway line, offering fantastic ocean views. As in much of Europe, the train (and bus) services follow schedules strictly. The road network is excellent; the 150-kilometer drive from Estoril to Fatima can take only an hour and a half.

* * *

It’s good that our Department of Tourism has been reorganized, because our tourism industry has a wide room for improvement and needs competent handling.

Tourism can promote inclusive growth and create jobs right where people live, eliminating or minimizing the need to find meaningful employment elsewhere. In Portugal, tourism provides jobs for a million people directly and indirectly, making it the largest employer in a country with a total population of 11 million. Last year the sector accounted for 17.3 percent of the country’s total GDP, or $41.1 billion. The figure is forecast to grow to 20.5 percent of GDP this year.

Even North Korea must be seeing the economic growth potential of tourism. In my hotel here, there’s a North Korean ad on RT, Russia’s all-English news channel. The ad is still all about the North’s leader Kim Jong-un; it concludes with a young woman saying Kim is doing his best “to make us the happiest people on Earth.” But you get the message: North Korea is beginning to open up to visitors.

Travel and tourism can help President Duterte realize his hope of creating jobs and bringing overseas Filipino workers home – and he doesn’t have to sell his soul to the devil to do it.