A couple weeks ago I published a post on this subject which got me quite a few interesting comments and bits of feedback. I really appreciate all those who shared their ideas. A couple updates since that last post.
Although I have seen no real evidence of the Department of Tourism advertising in general interest media, I have seen some very effective commercials on CNN from PAGCOR, The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation. PAGCOR, which is a Philippine Government owned corporation is pretty unique among the branches of the government I have dealt with so far. They are building a first class casino, amusement park and family destination resort in Manila, and advertising it to the world. They have apparently looked at the hordes of visitors who travel to Hong Kong or Tokyo Disney Land, or perhaps as I recently watched for myself, the convoys of full to capacity luxury coaches traveling from Macau airport and ferry terminals to the huge 5 star plus Venetian casino and resort in Macau. Advertising to the proper target audience is the first step for marketing success. Perhaps the DOT could do some partnering with PAGCOR and get some marketing tips. They are both government agencies supporting the same land and peoples.
One interesting thing I see in the PAGCOR commercials is a brief shot of a map showing how centrally located the Philippines is to all major cites in Asia. The Philippines seems remote to us Americans, but to well off potential tourists from Tokyo around to Singapore the Philippines is closer by air than Las Vegas is to New York. Americans are far from the only people with disposable income who like to travel to interesting destinations.
Now, sticking with that theme, Secretary Durano (you are reading, sir, aren’t you?), you may remember some old travel commercials that used to use the line, “Getting There is Half The Fun”. In the case of traveling to the Philippines it often seems more like “Getting There Is Nearly Impossible”.
I picked three highly popular and oft-mentioned Philippine tourist locations. Boracay, Bohol and Baguio. I also picked two of the largest online travel agencies, Expedia and Travelocity. Tried to book an example flight from a random example city in the US to any of those attractions, as if I had just seen them on a commercial. Guess what? You can’t get there from here. Neither service could find me connections, let alone a price and a departure time. Now you can fly by scheduled airline to all three of those Philippine locations, but apparently because domestic Philippine airline companies don’t chose to be part of the largest travel directories … and largest ticket sales outlets … on earth, they don’t show up. This is simpler, and even cheaper than trying to partner with another government agency. I can not believe this can’t be cured with a few phone calls or data base corrections. I’ll tell you what … when I ask for flights from the US to Macau … which is a tiny dot in Hong Kong harbor … very few people ever fly there direct from the US, it is much cheaper to fly to Hong Kong … Travelocity offered me 27 choices. What does Macau have that the Philippines does not? Obviously someone who sees to it that airline flights that already exist show up for people looking to go there. Again, zero cost, just a desire to market to the people you want to come here to our lovely country.
I’ll leave you with one final thought. This one won’t cost the Philippines anything. In fact,. it can make a profit. Organize the incredibly senseless transport situation at NAIA. Send one of your staffers or a “mystery shopper”, incognito to the airport, with a couple suitcases, and give them the assignment to reach a hotel in the city. Look, with international eyes, at the choices available. It’s sad sir, really sad.
A thousand ‘sleeve pullers’ verbally and even physically assault arriving tourists. A myriad of confusing and ill-labeled transport choices bewilder folks arriving. It doesn’t require money, it involves an attitude of giving a bit of common courtesy to the strangers your efforts have attracted to Manila, rather than leaving them to cope with a scary and unseemly mess.
When one gets through the immigration wicket at, for example, Hong Kong airport, there are organized, regulated transport desks with dedicated, express coaches to specific hotels. The government doesn’t pay for these services, the tourists do … and having transited both airports many times, I’d opt to fly into Hong Kong a hundred times rather than fly into NAIA once … and I live here and know my way around a bit.
Organize proper transport, sir, and rid the airport of all the moochers, schemers and barkers that make it into a haven for pickpockets and other scalawags. There are plenty of police and other officials milling about, it’s not a matter of money, it’s a matter of someone taking responsibility to put the country’s best foot forward, rather than turn their backs on travel-weary, already nervous tourists.
OK, this could go on, but I think you get the drift. I have been in the homes of thousands of Filipino, from rich folk to the very poor. I have never, ever, here or in any other country, been treated the way everyday tourists are treated upon arrival at the country’s gateway airport.
We don’t need infusions of money to fix the Philippines tourists issues. We need an infusion of what we used to call PRIDE in my early days in the USAF. Personal Responsibility In Daily Efforts. I implore you, Mr. Secretary, to once in a while come down from your ivory tower and visit tourist infrastructure facilities in the Philippines, and to continue the old Air Force vernacular, “Kick ass and Take Names”. You, and the Philippines would be glad you did.
Hi Dave,
Philippine government thinking seems to follow the old adage "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."
People come in, people go out through the airport, but as you say, it is a disaster. Luckily I know somebody in the Dept. of Tourism (DOT) and have on all occasions been "escorted" directly through all lines, with help through Passport Control, Baggage Control, to Money Exchange, calling the Hotel taxi and generally making me feel at home. There was no charge to me from DOT. Why not do this for any tourist that requests it. Set it up as a service. For a p500 tip it was worth it to me and made me feel welcome. It would also provide a much needed job for many Pinoys to work, and also improve service at the airport, as these guys and girls were very good!
Cant say it better than that. I wonder if the number of returning pinoys is part of the reason? after all to them it,s normal so why change. Maybe the arrivals area is actualy cleverly designed to prepare foriegners for the shock that is to come!:-)
Hi Dave,
What a great article, and right to the point. Now, I have never been through that airport, but I have heard many horror stories. With the threat of terrorism in the air, especially since 9/11, you would think the Philippine government would be coming up with plans and solutions to these problems. Also, bending over backwards to make "tourists" feel safe and welcomed, and policing the airports better, and to get rid of the people there that really have no business being there.
Also, like you said, they need to form a co-operative with the tourist spots, ie: hotels, transportation, resorts, and other tourist hot spots, and all work together, making it a more enjoyable experience for the tourists, and most of all, make them want to come back to the Philippines.
Your right, it is not always easy going on the internet and looking for information about flying to the Philippines, this is another thing they need to get with the airlines, and figure out a solution, especially those that are flying in from Canada, USA, and Europe.
Thanks,
Danny
Hi Dave – Interesting map you included. When I first spotted it, I thought that, if the lines had arrowheads on their distant ends, it could double as an display of "Philippine Brain Drain" and dispersement of available labor! 😉
Of course, there'd be a need for lines to the Middle East and our northern hemisphere.
Hello Dave. Yes, PAGCOR will be the country's main and vital feature in the years to come. It will eventually employ over 250,000 people, and they will be paid in US dollars…This is a vast project and may take ten years to develop but it has promise. There will be state-of-the art facilities, including monorail, metro train connections to and from the international airports as well as the main arteries all the way up north. Since this project will occupy almost a thousand hectares, eventually, chances are, PAGCOR entertainment city will be a city on its own. Nice indeed.
As for tourism, it will improve, but you know how some Filipinos are, they do not get too excited all at once:rather they are too cautious to appreciate, too slow to clap their hands with glee and because it is such a huge project, Filipinos in general keep their feet on the ground. But that's Pinoy for you. The excitement comes when they see the FINISHED product, not when it is only on paper.
Another excellent article, Dave. Another impressions of western tourists is that the Philippines is still "The Kidnapping capital of the world". So until this impressions as well as the travel infrastructure are corrected, the Philippines will attract less tourists than China or Malaysia. I hope though that Mr Durano has read
your two articles. He could learn a lot from it.
Good one Dave ,I guess you hit all the nails on the head .. been there done that syndrome ..now if they listen …Phil n Jess
Hi Dave,
Some interesting points you've made in your articles on tourism.
Most Canadians I talk to would agree with David Katague's comment that the Philippines is regarded by tourists as the " kidnapping capital of the world ". Then combine that with the mob awaiting the fearful tourist at NAIA and it's easy to see why the Philippines is lagging other Asian countries as a tourist destination.
You've proposed some simple but effective solutions. But whether anything changes I guess we'll have to wait and see. I've never seen any travel ads for the Philippines in Toronto ( Canada ), only for just about every other Asian country except North Korea. For most Canadians, going to Asia means Thailand, Bali, Singapore, Japan or Hong Kong. If I mention the beautiful beaches in the Philippines they kind of crinkle their nose and talk about " Smokey Mountain " in Manila's Tondo slum district. Everyone's seen those commercials on TV for Christian Save-the-Children Foundation charities that focus on getting North Americans to sponsor a poor filipino kid for a dollar a day. The back-drop of the commercial is always the most putrid slum in the Philippines they can find. That's the Philippines that is beamed to millions of Americans, not the beaches of Boracay!
Hi John,
Actually I should point out that some improvements have been made. But also that based on meeting people in the last year at NAIA versus just recently going out through DMIA (Clark) http://www.clarkairport.com/ and back in again in early March, NAIA still has a tremendous way to go. You would not even guess the airports were rub by the same country's government … physically less than 45 miles distant, but worlds apart in therms of treating passengers. can you imagine driving to the airport on roads not chocked with smoke-belchng tricycles, parking your car for a reasonable fee almst at the terminal door, having "barkers" confined to a fenced in area when you arrive … no one iside the entire building except uniformed officials, airline staff and passengers?
Not only that but not one staff person at DMIA shoved me, shouted at me, manhandled me in security checks (as a way of showing me who was boss) or any of the other insults that happen every single day at NAIA.
As I have said before. it's _not_ about money, it's about the management of the facility taking responsibility.
Your idea about a special service category has some merit, but in general I am against it … it only needs one person to be in charge of the existing mass with enough guts to live up to his/her responsibilities. Juan dela Cruz deserves proper and decent eatment at least as much as any foreign tourist.
Seriously, if you know someone in the DOT, please ask them to read this series and think about some of the things being discussed here … even though I sometimes come across negatively, I really am devoting this time to the issue out of a spirit of helpfulness … and many smart ideas have rolled in in the comments as well as my musings.
Could be Daryl, could be 😉
Exactly, Paul. That;'s the point I hav e been trying to make for years now. The Philippine government does not seem to realize where the true natural assets are … Filipinos. And quite frankly, it's often the best and brightest who become OFW's. Some true heros stay home and try to make the country work in spite of the mantra chanted every day that sending the brains of the country overseas in return for a few pesos is shortsighted and greedy. As I have written before it's selling the seed corn and the hell with the country's future … as long as those currently at the top of the ehap can make a few pesos.
Consider something that every Filipino ought to consider before they jump onm that 'Filipino hero' OFW treadmill. Two hundred-odd years ago the US was nothing but some bickering little dirt-poor settlements carved out of the wilderness with the few inhabitants luiterally living hand to mouth. Talk about 'third-world' … when it attained independence e the US was far worse off than the Philippines is today.
But if you drew a map like that for the US, over 200 plus years, the arrows would come from all over the world, and they would almost all point "in". Even though we Americans continually go through periods of "we hate the xxx's" (in civil war times we hated the Irish and the Chinese who built the railroads, in the 1900s we hated the the Italians who built our cites and fought WWII for us, today we blame everything on the Mexicans, etc … the US would still be a dirt-poor little subsistence farm except that we imported the brains, brawn and talent of virtually every nation on earth … including the Philippines … for free.
Actually, as an American, I ought to wave the flag for the OFW program, it certainly is a great benefit to the US … nice to have other countries sending their best and brightest to us for free.
yes, and the point that is so easily missed is that in terms of cost per action … like how many pesos spent to induce a tourist to buy a ticket … the Internet is a fantastic bargain compared with print of on-air (last century) marketing.
After I wrote this article I thought maybe I was being unfair in illustrating how you can't book to Philippine loications from major online players. I picked three majot US attractions … Grand Canyon, Yellowstone and Niagara Falls. Eevn thogh none of these specifically has a commercial airport dedic ated to the attraction, the major search engines knew exactly how to route me to a successful trip, offering choices of the closest airports, rental cars, etc. The search engines _want_ the Philippine locations, the more successful searches the more tickets sold … it just needs someone to say, "Hi, this is how you route people to Boracay". How simple, and low cost, is that?
Hi Jenny, while I can't share your almost Messaic view of PAGCOR, I certainly do applaud them for doing the job and for marketing to the folks who can afford the trip.
I'm not sure about what you mean regarding Filipinos getting excited about tourism. It's not the Filipino who needs to get excited, it's the forigner who today goes to Thailand or Indonesia or May;aysia who need to be excoted about the Philippines … which is exactly my point. Marketing the Philippines to Filipinos which is what the DOT seems to be doing is like preaching to the choir. They are either going to come here to spend money or not … they already know what is here, it's their country after all … it's sort of like marketing retirement condos in an oldster's newspaper in Florida … they already know about retiiring in Florida, they already live there.
Anyway, thanks for sharing.
Yes, that is a huge issue and one not under the comntrol of the DOT. it needs changing badly. We Caucasians often don't even realize the scope of the problem … especially for ethnic Chinese and Japanese … there are kidnappings for ransom virtually every day, especially for these groups, and becuase they typically pay the ransom and don't report it to the police, the 'powers that be' act as if there 'is' no problem … but ask any Japanese in Japan what s/he thinks about kidnapping in the Philippines.
The fact that the world has been watching three schoolteachers and three red cross workers languish for months in captivity now, with the government doing essentially nothing to rescue the captives goes out to the world and is certainly noticed. There is a rumor that says the President is well known for her adverse reaction to bad news … she refuses to hear it … don't know what the truth of that rumor is, but for sure the rest of the world gets the message loud and clear … get kidnapped in the Philippines and the governemnt can't/won't be able to help you.
Thanks Phil n Jess. Indeed who knows if anyone really takes any of this to heart, but at least I put the information out there.
yes the kidnapping issue seems to have been reported more strongly in Canada than in most other 'white' countries.
One thing that isn't necessarily simple, cheap,. or DOT related … but necessary is … actually capture some kidnappers, put them on trial and punjish them for the world to see.
There's a strong impression that Philippine justice is slow, ineffective and opaque to the world … true or not, impressions are everything when it cpomes to inspiring people to spend their money for pleasure,.
Paying the workers in US dollars is a huge mistake – it will create another division in Philippine society.Gambling on a large scale also brings social problems – crime and corruption often follow in its wake if it is not controlled with an iron hand.We will see even more senior policemen retiring to the USA as millionares!
Dave For President !! oh wait … 😐
Hi Dave,
I have to correct you here,all but 1 hostage has been rescued.
The rescue of the last hostage is imminent.
It appears to have been kept very low key,probably for security reasons.
regards Chas.
Hi Dave,
Just maybe PI is more interested in attracting Asian tourists rather than Westerners.
I read recently that tourist numbers from China are booming.
PI is the No1 tourist destination in Asia for the Chinese.
This would tie up with the huge Casino project mentioned earlier.
Although personally i disapprove of gambling,as most of us are aware,the Chinese are avid gamblers.
regards Chas.
Nice article Dave with some common sense low cost solutions . Problem is getting someone in power to recogonize them . Philippines is not well known for having long – term vision . 🙂
ha ha Tommy. Hey if I could be made president of the Philippines … or the US for that matter, I would go down in history. Shortest presidential term ever. Hung by public acclimation within the first hour in office, likely … unless the rope was out of stock LoL
Well I can't argue there, coming from a country with extreme lack of vision … hey let's sell each other these worthless mortgae dreivative … we'll go broke but by then we will have collected our sales bonuses .. who cares if we destroy 100,000 peoples retiremnt funds, we'll be rich.
So when you find a country with a vision that lasts longer than the next 30 days or so, let me know, I'll think about moving there. It sure ain't my beloved, but live for the fast buck, USA.
It's true I am only pretending that anyone influential will be reading this, but there's a little saying that goes something like "it's better to light one little candle than to curse the darkness".
Today, especially among the world's "experts" we have a plethora of darkness cursers. Candles are cheap.
Hi Chas,
You mean as opposed to Harvard-degreed Wall Street investment bankers and other conservative 'upstanding' citizens?
Just to let everyone know that today(in The Philippine Inquirer, Ace Durano is again in the news. It seems that both local and foreign tourism in the Philippines has a very, very bright future.
( I read the Inquirer from the internet daily in my e-mail account)- a summary of important news in PI). I love it since it is less verbose.
Hi David – Not trying to be negative, but I've lived in the Philippines for 9 years now, and they have been talking about the bright future for tourism for about…. let's see… 9 years or so. So far, things don't look too bright. I e-mailed a hotel a couple years ago to see if I could spend some money there, but I'm still waiting for them to answer me. I really want to give them some of my money, but I guess that since the tourism industry is seeing such bright times, they don't need my money. Maybe they are full. Maybe if they ever have any rooms vacant they will e-mail me back!
David, tell everyone how we just learned about 2 nice resorts in the old hometown of San Marcelino Zambales – from a friend who's lived in California the last 30 years! Lol!
Hi Dave,
Here is an article from the Business Mirror regarding Philippine Tourism:
http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/home/perspective…
For your and LiP readers information.