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Friday, September 26, 2003
DOT: Visit Philippines extended to June ‘04
By Cherry T. Lim
VISIT Philippines 2003 has been extended until next year, according to a top regional tourism executive.
“It’s true, because of Sars … the WTO (World Tourism Organization) extended it up to June 2004,” said Department of Tourism 7 Regional Director Patria Aurora Roa in an interview.
Visit Philippines is a World Tourism Organization-endorsed visit-country year. It entails a structured marketing program, which includes the “More than the Usual” ads aired by the Philippines on CNN and BBC, as well as the Wow Philippines program designed to attract both foreign and local tourists.
The Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars) had affected travel, particularly to Asia, which was hardest hit by the deadly virus.
In the first six months of the year, foreign tourist arrivals to Central Visayas fell over nine percent to 122,507, with huge declines of 49 and 59 percent noted in arrivals from Hong Kong and Taiwan.
The war in Iraq, which began in March, also affected travel.
Asked whether the Philippines had any visa-free arrangements with other countries that would encourage travel to the country, Roa told Sun.Star that some Chinese groups may have been able to get visas upon their arrival in the Philippines, but this type of entry would have entailed a prior arrangement made by their local handlers.
In a separate interview, Destination Specialists (Cebu) Inc. president and general manager Marget Fernan-Villarica said she was planning to talk to the Bureau of Immigration in Manila to inquire about making such an arrangement for the arrival of a group in Cebu.
However, she said she would also have to see if it was worth the money and risk to bring such a group in that way because as the handler, she would have to deposit a bond “to protect against a person (from the travel group attempting) to stow away.”
She said she had heard that the bond could reach as high as P1 million.
To boost tourism, the government should take the initiative to make it easy for tourists to enter the Philippines, Villarica said.
She cited the case of the Hong Kong government “after the Sars issue,” which singled out some developed cities in China as sources of tourists, and then made it easy for the people in those areas to go to Hong Kong.
Low budget
There is a question, however, of how far the Philippine government can go in boosting tourism, considering its measly budget.
The DOT’s Roa reported that the tourism sectoral committee of the Committee on Appropriations had approved the 2004 budget of P1 billion for the Department of Tourism. But this amount will be for all the DOT’s offices in the Philippines as well as abroad.
Central Visayas’ share is P4.7 million, as it has been in the previous years, and it will go to “operations,” like the payment for rent, utilities etc., Roa said.
High prices
Villarica added that there were other issues affecting tourism, like pricing.
According to her, in Hong Kong, trips to the Philippines are marketed at $1,200 to $1,500, or twice the price of trips to Thailand, which are only for $700.
During a press conference earlier this week, Robert Go, vice president for tourism of the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI), said the chamber would look into the reasons why five-star hotels in Cebu are charging higher rates than comparable hotels in other Asian destinations.
Another thing hampering the travel of tourists from China is that the Philippines has only one foreign post there, where potential tourists could get visas, and that is in Beijing. Villarica was not sure whether there was representation in Shanghai.
A check on the Department of Foreign Affairs’ website showed that as of yesterday, Beijing was listed as the Philippines’ only foreign post in China.
The CCCI’s Go said the chamber would talk more with the stakeholders of Cebu tourism to discuss other issues, like the expansion of the attractions of Cebu to include not just beaches, but the old churches; the sufficiency of tourist buses and hotel rooms; access of flights from foreign countries to Cebu; and cleanliness of the port area.
Dollars
In terms of marketing, Go suggested also tapping the overseas Filipino workers (OFW), saying, “We have millions of Filipinos (outside) with dollars to spend.”
According to him, China was using this tactic on its own nationals living abroad.
“There is an Overseas Chinese Department in every city and province in China,” he said, that concentrates on encouraging overseas Chinese to revisit China.
(September 26, 2003 issue)
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