WOW! Wonder of Wonders. It’s more fun in the Philippines! And now, “Experience the Philippines.” This is the new slogan of the Department of Tourism to promote our country to foreign (also local) tourists.
Experience is the knowledge or feeling obtained through direct impressions… or that could be an interesting or remarkable event in a person’s life. That experience could ever happen in a particular sphere of activity… and that experience could not just be about ecstasy. It could also be about agony, terror, horror or hopelessness. Since we are promoting tourism, we look forward to having the best experience: destination, food, festival, hospitality, peace and order, facilities, and other products. When it is tourism, it must be good.
Experience could be in two instances. It could be a personal experience that affects our senses, our level of enjoyment and the kind of satisfaction we get or could be a vicarious experience. We could not climb a coconut palm but seeing a tuba gatherer does an acrobatic job… then that could be us (just feeling it). “Experience the Philippines” is both an invitation and a challenge.
Negros Occidental is “Land of Sweet Surprises.” Tourists have to experience the surprises that await them in Silay as the “seat of arts and culture.” They have to experience the lifestyle in heritage houses. They have to know “molino de sangre” and “maquina vapor de horno economico.” In Bacolod, they have to experience the taste of "chicken inasal" and they have to discover what is behind the smiling mask.
Experience could always be perceived by the senses. We can start from the airport. We expect airline companies to follow flight schedules religiously. It could be an awful experience for the tourists to have delayed flights. The taxi drivers are our first well wishers. They will tour the guests in our congested streets to let them experience traffic in Metro Manila. We hope that tourists will not experience over-charging because the taxi meter malfunctions. We have the best hotels around but not all tourists prefer the “dollar-speaking hotels.” They also want to stretch their budget for a couple of weeks. How are our C, D, E hotels? We can always pray that the rooms smell sampaguitas and the toilets are comfortable. We don’t expect cockroaches to have concert by midnight. It is always anticipated that running water can last for 24 hours and the color is not brown.
Foreign tourists would love to tour our public markets, sidewalks and public plaza. Our public market is very public and we always assume that the drums of garbage have been collected and our corner walls do not have the scent of fresh urine. It is believed that our policemen have already cleared the area with snatchers, pickpockets, and our brothers who are financially and mentally challenged.
Our sidewalks are very interesting. We would like to believe that not all sidewalks are congested. Our tourists from other countries will meet all kinds of vendors there… fruit vendors, peanut vendors, “lamayo” (half-dried fish) vendors, face towel and pillowcase vendors… including vendors of newly snatched cellphones and pirated DVDs.
The plaza is the show window of our civilization (also melting pot). Tourists will be surprised to see people from all walks of life: manicurists, pastors, bet collectors, shoe shine boys, smiling girls, homeless children, abandoned husbands, unemployed professionals, local tourists who lost their wallets, and lovers who want to express their freedom to park. These are good things to see for the sake of experience.
Our guests can always try our fine beaches. Some are very popular that even a fish dealer can show but some are in secluded places and the local government units have not yet included them in their maps. We have good caves in the Philippines for those who love adventures. Some caves are dry and some are wet. Our food is the best especially the common staples like balot, ginamos, dinuguan, linabog, paklay, sisig, binuro, tinuom, sapal, binduggado, and kwek-kwek.
We can always try the new slogan, “Experience the Philippines” It could be worth the experience. Since this is new, tourism officers can have their summit and connect the slogan to the National Tourism Development Plan (2016-2022). It carries the theme, “May Turismo, Para Sa Tao, At Trabaho.” All tourism officers can start using their new Tourism Guidebook for Local Government Units. Enjoy the experience.