‘Ugly-driven tourism’

Before somebody in the Department of Tourism starts getting their knickers in a twist, let me state here and now, that this article is not about Philippine tourism or an attack on the establishment.

This article is all about how so many Filipinos, mostly from Metro Manila, have been driving out, riding out, sailing out or flying out of Metro Manila to escape their “dirty city” and see beautiful sceneries, enjoy cool and clean air around the country or outside the Philippines. That’s all good, but underneath the tourism is the possibility that our travels qualify as “ugly-driven” tourism when ugliness drives us to be elsewhere.

Over the Christmas holidays and into the first days of the new year, many people noticed how quiet Metro Manila was, how lighter than expected the traffic had become and how clear the atmosphere was that you could actually see far and beyond Laguna de Bay. We could even see details of hills and mountains towards Laguna and Rizal, indicating that there were less vehicles running in Metro Manila.

While Metro Manila seemed deserted, social media was flooded with travel and tourism posts from people that had left the metro for local and foreign destinations. Rich or regular, so many Filipinos simply skipped town and you saw this from their posts on Meta/IG/FB and Viber, it felt like “social media Ph” had turned into one huge travel channel about Filipinos visiting parks, islands, churches, temples in Japan, Vietnam, Korea, etc.

Other posts and vlogs included Boracay activities and restaurants and sunsets. Weddings in ancient churches, island hopping in Palawan, expeditions to lesser-known places in Batangas such as Lobo or across to Mindoro island, the Visayas and Mindanao! What was interesting was that travel was not restricted by pocket power or finances. People simply left on what they could afford.

What got my attention was that people focused on “nature,” how clean and organized things were and expressing sentiments about “how nice it would be if they could experience or see the same things in Metro Manila;” things like quiet and clean streets, parks, painted houses and walls, trees and more greenery along the sidewalks and in business areas, and a lot of garbage cans and dumpsters! Every now and then, Pinoys would post pictures of them having snacks “al fresco on the sidewalk,” even though this used to be part of “normal life” in the Philippines.

Every time a big holiday or long weekend comes up, you will inevitably get to see a pile of travel posts and with regularity a number of women will always say: “Why can’t we have airports like this in the Philippines?” or “Why can’t the toilets be as many and as clean as abroad?” I used to think that it was just a bad habit of comparing or thinking the grass is greener on the other side. But in the past few years, even I have become a victim of “ugly-driven tourism.”

I have spent less and less time going around Metro Manila, especially in the dirty cities. Sorry but that’s the only way to describe some cities near or next to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport: Dirty Cities. The roads are covered with soot and smog, the roads are full of humps, bumps and potholes, a lot of garbage is uncollected, tricycles, pushcarts and junk litter the sidewalks and many of the buildings, houses and sidewalks (if any) are dirty, dirty, dirty!

No effort is made to even wash down or spray the public areas or high visibility places, much less embark on a campaign that will require property owners or the LGU to paint walls and gates and roofs! Last but not the least, street-dwellers and children spend more time on the streets hustling motorists for coins. This is the welcome we roll out to tourists coming out of the NAIA.

Local government units have over focused on collection of revenues and coming up with new ideas to collect even more money but have not spent a decent amount of funds to fix their environment, sidewalks and frontage of business establishments. They practically don’t give a “shit” so every now and then, pedestrians end up stepping on shit from humans or dogs.

To add to the LGU greed and indifference, many Filipino homeowners and businesses have relied on barangay street sweepers and garbage collectors to deal with filth, the litter and the garbage outside their gates. The mentality is if it is outside my gate or wall, it’s not my responsibility and not my problem. Well, the tragedy is that in highly congested areas such as the dirty cities around the NAIA and elsewhere, everybody makes a mess, generates garbage and displays it outside for all to see.

The thing is there are clean cities and there are dirty cities. There are environmentally sensitive LGUs and there are LGUs who don’t even understand the concept or the problem. The dirty city mayors have no excuse. Some officials never even get to see, feel or smell the ugliness in their city because they spend their time in air-conditioned offices, luxury SUVs and exclusive villages and condos.

Maybe after reading this article, they’ll even say, thanks to their dirty cities, they are promoting “ugly-driven tourism.” Perhaps one day, when the ugliness of your cities drives away customers, businesses and investors, along with the taxes they pay, maybe then you’ll understand and appreciate the signs of the times. Sooner or later, it will happen. There are cities all over the world who never imagined they would go bankrupt or that businesses would leave town. They left and so will Filipinos – and not just for “ugly driven tourism.”

Time to choose the first “Mayor of the dirtiest city in the Philippines.” Any nominees?

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