RECENTLY, I was invited to a media forum in Rembrandt Hotel and someone asked me what I thought about the current setup, where people had to go to Davao to meet up with President Rodrigo R. Duterte. My answer was “Great! Very good for Davao!” A friend from Davao who owns a restaurant had to fly in ingredients and kitchen materials from Manila, as one night they almost ran out of food.
For me, there is a more serious aspect to this new political scenario. I am hoping that our local government officials would be inspired by these developments and realize that, if they do well in governance, they, too, stand a chance to become president one day. Do as President Duterte did! It is not only good for tourism, but for other business opportunities, as well. Davao is the new hot spot for meetings, conferences and leisure trips. The No. 1 enemy of tourism is lawlessness and criminality. The President’s commitment to eradicate this nuisance in our society is most welcome by the tourism industry. In addition, let me share the wish list of the tourism sector:
Clean and refreshing ambiance
Most tourists enjoy walking when visiting new destinations. They want to see architectural designs, explore the heritage and holy sites, visit parks, go shopping, visit music lounges and others. How can one enjoy these activities when all you can see are garbage; vandalized walls and signages; unsanitary street-food hawkers; uninformed policemen and taxi drivers in key tourism sites; sidewalks with unkempt and dying plants; and dirt from esteros that are left to pile up? Where are the pedestrian lanes?
Greener Philippines
We have a penchant for cutting trees when widening roads and highways. I have just visited three Asean countries at the height of the heat wave that hit the region, and I observed that temperatures there were not as bad as it was in our country. It is simply because there were trees that shaded the different places we visited. In Indonesia and Malaysia, when they needed to build another lane of a highway, they protected the tree lines by expanding the road on the other side.They also regularly prune the trees and remove the dead branches to create a beautiful form.. In the case of Vietnam, they did the same thing and reserved the new lane for just the motorcycles and the bicycles; something that we can also do. When Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway was opened up, my friends and I were very happy traveling in that area, because it was so green with rolling hills. It made you feel like you were somewhere else. Lately, though, people have been given permission to develop these areas, and they are cutting down the trees to make way for residential and commercial establishments. Even in construction, we don’t take into account the preservation of our green environment. In some countries there are laws or regulations that within a certain radius of the highways, the land is still owned by the government and, therefore, the greeneries are preserved.
Safer and efficient airport
Many of the airports abroad now are conducive to transiting; areas where people can rest and sleep while waiting for their flights. They also bring nature into the airport while keeping the needed efficiency of their services, so you feel good going around. The greenery does not bother you, but enhances your stay in the airport. Our airports look pathetic compared to our neighbors. The variety of things one can buy inside the airport are limited, maybe because there is not enough space. The toilet facilities can be further improved. And yes, please keep our airports potholefree.
In a recent trip to Malaysia, as the plane was taxiing, I dozed off. It must have been a while when suddenly I was awakened by the jarring movement of the airplane. I thought we had arrived in Malaysia, but my travel companion said we were still in Manila and had been stuck for two hours. When we landed in Malaysia, the pilot apologized for the delay and clarified it was not due to the aircraft’s technical difficulties, but because a wheel had gotten stuck in a pothole. You could hear the incredulous laughter of the passengers. I hope this can be fixed, once and for all. At the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 1, the arrival procedure is not person with disability-friendly, as they are required to go down the stairs to pick up their ride. Why can’t they have their rides upstairs at the main arrival area?
Healthier and visitor-friendly community
Who would like to go to a place that is fraught with diseases, where one can get sick from unhealthy and unsanitary conditions? A healthy community can attract tourists. When you get to a place, there are certain things that a visitor is expected to do: buy souvenirs; maybe go to a spa or the hairdresser; visit the tourist info center; take a tour; or change foreign currency. The information on these activities should be readily available. There has to be sufficient accommodations; not necessarily hotels, but also homestays wherein people are trained to be visitor-ready and-friendly while keeping their traditions and cultural practices.
Sufficient tour guides and new tour packages
Tour guiding is no longer just for city tours. Tour guiding now has specialized applications for ecotourism, nature tourism, farm tourism, heritage and historical sites, faith-based tourism and others. Guiding is no longer an adhoc sideline, but has become a career with specializations. We need to develop guides by tourism product, by site and by language. Our language courses should include guiding techniques. For packages, it’s another area of specialization. We need more tour agencies that specialize in a particular type of tour package designed for certain places. Even the educational institutions teaching tourism must emphasize the need for students to know more about the Philippines and the areas where they come from. There must be pride of origin.
Seamless travel
If you are a visitor, it is so hard to go from one place to another in the Philippines. In effect, we are not able to maximize the revenue and investment opportunities that tourism could bring in certain areas, especially those not served by the big airlines. There must be provisions for smaller air and sea facilities. In Maldives they have taxi boats. I remember when I was the secretary of tourism, we did the Tourism Highway project where we traced the markers from Kilometer zero in Luneta Park all the way to Mindanao. This highway, at one time, was referred to as the Philippine-Japan Friendship Highway, also the Maharlika Highway, and later dubbed as the Tourism Highway. What did we find out? That it is workable, but the support system for tourism was not present. I am just wondering what is the status of the Philippine Tourism Highway study that was ready for implementation? If this can be developed, there is so much potential for inclusive growth where rest areas can be provided, and food outlets and accommodations can established for people traversing the highway by car.
If we are able to see the implementation of the above, then we can say we are in sync with the theme of the 2016 World Tourism Organization: which is “Accessible Tourism for All.”
Dr. Gabor was the former tourism secretary, former trade undersecretary, current president of the International School of Sustainable Tourism, and part of the board of trustees of De La Salle University-College of St. Benilde.
