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Thursday, February 09, 2006
Gordon’s bill to cause ‘demise’ of RP tourism
By Jessica B. Natad
Sun.Star Staff Reporter
The National Association of Independent Travel Agencies (Naitas) is appealing to all groups in the tourism sector, especially in Cebu, to join the association in its advocacy against the approval of Senate Bill 2138 or the proposed Tourism Act of 1995.
According to Naitas chairman Robert Lim Joseph, the approval of the bill, authored by Sen. Richard Gordon, will result in the gradual demise of the country’s tourism industry.
Corporation
Senate Bill 2138, which President Arroyo has certified as urgent, seeks, among others, to create Tourism Philippines, a corporation combining the functions of the Philippine Convention and Visitors Corp., the Philippine Tourism Authority and the promotions and marketing departments of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to strengthen the promotion of the tourism industry.
While bill aims to streng-then the country’s tourism industry to achieve economic improvement and create more jobs.
While this is beneficial, some provisions of the proposed law can aggravate issues that hound Cebu’s tourism industry, said Naitas-Cebu chapter president Jenny Franco.
She cited the provision to charge each tourist a “tourism fee” of $5 for every night of stay in any hotel, inn and other lodging establishment.
Franco said hotels in Cebu have been accused of charging high rates.
“We will become all the more uncompetitive with other international tourist destinations such as Bali (Indonesia), Phuket (Thailand), Malaysia and Singapore, among others,” she said.
The growth of Cebu’s tourism industry has been hampered by hotels and resorts that impose rates higher than those of other international tourist destinations. The shortage of rooms has been blamed for Cebu’s costly accommodation.
Compromise
Joseph said a good compromise to the “tourism fee” provision is to charge $1 per room instead.
He said another issue that the group finds contentious is the provision that requires tourism enterprises to secure numerous permits, licenses and accreditation.
Apart from that, he said Naitas is also opposing the usurpation by the DOT of the functions of other government agencies like the departments of foreign affairs, interior and local government, transportation and communications, public works and highways, and even the Civil Aeronautics Board.
Joseph said the government should leave the accreditation and other documentation requirements with private tourism organizations to avoid a situation that breeds graft and corruption.
“Private tourism organizations such as Naitas know how to qualify hotels and resorts and promote them to their clients. If the government does this, corruption is inevitable,” he said.
In a report, Gordon said there is a need to restructure the country’s tourism administration to develop its potentials as an engine of economic growth.
He said the Philippines has lagged behind its neighbors in the area of tourism, such as Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and even Vietnam.
Gordon said Thailand and Malaysia had visitors in excess of 10 million, while Indonesia and Singapore had more than five million visitors last year. Even Vietnam, a country that had been ravaged by war, surpassed the two million mark in tourism arrivals last year, while the Philippines did not even come close, Gordon’s report said.
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (February 9, 2006 issue)
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