Reviving the fun

A local airline has started rehiring several pilots who were laid off during the pandemic, including the more experienced ones who command higher pay.

It’s a good sign that the travel industry is rebounding from the devastation unleashed by the pandemic. Unfortunately, soaring fuel prices and shrinking purchasing power are slowing down the recovery. But at least it doesn’t look like the fuel crisis will last as long as the COVID threat.

So the country can focus on dealing with the problems that have bedeviled the travel and tourism industry even before COVID struck.

Within the biggest economies of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations as of 2019, the year before the pandemic started, the Philippines registered 8.26 million tourist arrivals, far behind fellow ASEAN members Thailand (39.9 million foreign visitors), Malaysia (26.10 million), Singapore (19.12 million), Indonesia (16.10 million) and Vietnam (18 million).

It’s not because our neighbors have better tourist sites. Davao City is larger than Singapore and has more tourist attractions. I’ve always believed we have far better beaches than those in Bali, Indonesia’s top tourist magnet.

So why are our neighbors getting up to five times more visitors than us? The answers have been listed long before the pandemic.

One is poor air connectivity. We don’t have direct flights to many destinations, unlike our neighbors. The poor quality of our airports and a three percent common carrier’s tax that hit foreign airlines with long-haul flights the hardest prompted several major carriers to end their direct flights to the Philippines, with Air France-KLM dropping the last direct flight from Europe to Manila in 2012.

Noynoy Aquino scrapped the carrier’s tax in 2013, but there has been no rush among the foreign carriers to resume direct flights to and from Manila; airlines don’t shut down operations and reopen at the drop of a hat.

We need more effort in connectivity because our archipelago is not contiguous with the main island grouping in Southeast Asia, which allows them to package country-hopping tours.

Non-direct flights not only take longer but are also more expensive. A person with limited leave days from work will want to make every vacation moment count, and will not want to waste time stuck in airport transit lounges, even if these are first or business class.

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Then there are the travel disincentives unique to certain countries. There’s a huge market, for example, for romance or wedding travel packages. South Korea’s picturesque Jeju Island, a favorite setting for popular Korean telenovelas, is being packaged as a wedding / honeymoon (and even elopement) destination.

India is a big market for attracting wedding tourists. The country has a lot of both old and new money, and there are affluent Indians who celebrate weddings with the bride and groom’s extended families traveling together overseas. During my pre-pandemic travels abroad, I often came across these large groups of Indian tourists.

In 2019, Thailand attracted 1.99 million Indian tourists while the Philippines drew only 134,963.

Apart from the lack of direct flights to Manila, Indian expats have told me that it’s too much hassle for their compatriots to obtain Philippine tourist visas. The Indians have suggested family visas to facilitate the process and encourage romance tourism for those large wedding packages, but so far there has been no action from Manila.

Philippine visa rules governing Indians apparently are still premised on the prevention of illegal migration by Indians from underprivileged classes. But in the process, we are missing out on the ever-growing ranks of upwardly mobile Indians who are excelling in IT and other highly profitable fields, who fly business class and drive Jaguars, Bentleys and Rolls-Royces.

There is reportedly some resentment among Indians that Philippine visa restrictions for them aren’t imposed on other nationalities such as those from Western Europe.

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Besides reviewing our visa rules for specific countries, we will need to further ramp up tourism marketing overseas.

This is if we want to see tourism as a driver of post-pandemic recovery, for which we will need to compete with our neighbors. They have always been aggressive in international tourism promotion, and already we can see them investing heavily to restart their travel industry, using multiple media platforms.

In our case, any international promotion of the country for revenge tourism will need an innovative approach that won’t require the hefty budget for a regular marketing campaign. The country is buried in debt and there are many urgent matters crying for priority funding.

The energetic Berna Romulo Puyat did her best to maintain foreign travelers’ awareness of the Philippines even during the pandemic lockdowns. As tourism secretary, she oversaw digital promotion campaigns: “Wake up in the Philippines” in 2020, “More fun awaits” in 2021 and “It’s More Fun with You” this year.

In April this year, the Philippines had the honor of hosting the in-person 21st Global Summit of the World Travel & Tourism Council.

Puyat, now deputy governor of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, is leaving behind big shoes to fill in the Department of Tourism.

Last month she said she wanted to push marine, romance and regenerative tourism to Indian travelers.

The incoming tourism chief, Mayor Christina Garcia Frasco of Liloan town (home of my favorite rosquillos biscuits) in Cebu, told us on One News’ “The Chiefs” that she wanted to promote lesser known destinations such as Camotes Islands in her home province. Check it out: the island group looks like a cross between the best of Boracay and Palawan. Frasco, also the spokesperson for vice president-elect Sara Duterte, told us she would also be pushing food tourism.

Whether the incoming administration will maintain the “it’s more fun” marketing slogan will still have to be discussed, Frasco said.

Tourism marketing is just one aspect of an industry that requires having many other government agencies and the private sector on board.

In economies that are heavily dependent on travel and tourism, the head of government may take a direct hand in matters affecting the sector, or act as a conductor that elicits a bravura performance from the orchestra.

This has not happened in the Philippines. With the country currently in dire need of recovering from a devastating pandemic, perhaps such a conductor will emerge, and we’ll get to see the orchestra playing.