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Saturday, June 25, 2005
RP should not live by tourism alone: Bali tours exec
By Jessica Banzon-Natad
Sun.Star Staff Reporter
A country should not entrust the development of its entire economy to the tourism industry alone.
According to John Daniels, president of Bali Discovery Tours, countries should see tourism as a way to earn income, which should then be plowed into other sustainable, “clean and green” investments.
“Tourism is wonderful. In Bali, two-thirds of the population is (in the tourism business). But it is not good for a destination to rely solely on tourism. You must use tourism to gain income for other sustainable investments,” he said during the Regional Tourism Congress at the Cebu Grand Convention Center yesterday.
Daniels did not down-play the importance of the tourism industry to a country’s economy, however, citing the multiplier effect of employment opportunities from foreign tourist expenditures.
He also advised players of Cebu’s tourism industry to work together to protect the industry in times of crisis.
Daniels said Bali had gone through a series of crisis, from the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, the Bali bombing in 2002, the Iraq war and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome crises in 2003, to the Avian flu virus in 2004 and the Shapelle Corby trial this year.
Corby, an Australian national, was convicted of bringing marijuana into the tourist island and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Spending cut
Because of these crises, the Indonesian government has reduced spending on tourism promotion this year, dissolved the Indonesia Tourism Promotion Boards in other countries and introduced a new visa policy.
These moves from the government challenged players like Daniels to take their own initiative to sustain Bali’s industry, such as by taking advantage of the Internet.
“During the crisis, I emailed all my friends around the world and informed them that it is not bad in Indonesia, as what the news reported. The Internet is one of the most effective and low-cost promotion tools a destination could use,” he said.
Cycle
Daniels said every destination experiences a cycle, which starts from discovery to exploration by backpackers, investments in infrastructure, such as hotels and resorts, and then, stagnation.
It is during the stagnation period that tourism players should unite and create innovations to create new exciting and interesting attractions for tourists to explore, he said.
This is why Daniels advised the Philippines to “retain a part of yourself that you want to share to the world; otherwise, why should the world come to you?¨
(June 25, 2005 issue)
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