Saturday, September 29, 2007
Speak out: Tourism advantage
By Dr. Aguido A. Magdadaro
Cebu Sacred Heart College, Talisay City
WE were seated---all 10 members of my immediate family---at Jevel train station in Paris waiting for our ride to Versailles, about 25 minutes away, when a poster on the wall caught my attention: ‘’Don’t you know that 42 million tourists visited France last year?’’
Versailles is known for its majestic palaces from which King Louis XIV and Marie Antoinette were literally ‘’dragged’’ to Paris by the mob during the bloody French Revolution. Its opulent splendor and extravagance and enormous legendary gardens are musts for tourists.
We just came back from Lourdes, which my wife and I re-visited for thanksgiving. (We were there in 2005). We stayed in France for seven days.
Forty two million tourists? I can just imagine the amount of money these hordes bring to the French economy every year. I understand the Philippines has 2 -3 million tourists a year.
During our 21 day tour of France, Italy, Austria, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, we found their cities teeming with tourists, both local (because of their open borders) and international.
The Japanese and Chinese are invading Vienna, Wurzburg, Rome, Amsterdam.
At the Chinese Sea Palace floating restaurant in Amsterdam, Asians were flocking.
On both sides of the train tracts, thousands of hectares of fully developed agricultural lands (meaning, these advanced countries are not neglecting agriculture) were planted with corn, grapes and sunflower.
Aside form manufacturing, heavy industries, exports and farming, these countries seem earning more from tourists who pour money into restaurants, hotels and resorts.
We commend the current efforts of our local and national executives in their aggressive promotion of tourism. We are cheaper, our foods better and tastier, than anywhere in the world. We are no match to Paris’ 2,000 hotels, but we can please our tourists better at lesser cost to them.
In Vienna, the hotel front deskman almost fainted in amazement when I said to him. “Here, its costs us .50 Euro (P32) just to use your toilet. In Cebu, one Euro (P62) can already buy you a breakfast.’’
A modest meal in Rome can cost you P620 pesos.
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (September 29, 2007 issue)
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