More on the Tourism bill

The reactions I got with respect to our column last week which touched on the Tourism bill were unexpected. Due to space constraints, we could not print all of the valid concerns raised, but considering the importance of the bill and on its possible positive or negative effects – depending on which way it would really finally go, I decided to go deeper into its other aspects.

The National Association of Independent Travel Agencies (NAITAS) boasts of 972 non-IATA (International Air Transport Association) travel agencies. It also has 17 chapters from all over the country, not including allied members from the hospitality industry which counts resorts, hotels and airlines. Its membership roster also includes most of the members of the powerful Philippine Tour Operators Association, the Manila-Japan Travel Agents and Hoteliers Association, the Philippine Travel Agencies Association (PTAA), Save Our Skies (SOS), Air Safety Foundation and the Rotary Club Tourism Committee. The Hotel and Restaurant Association of the Philippines, on the other hand, is home to all the ranking and non-ranking hotels, hostels, inns, resorts, pension houses, restaurants, and even schools such as St. Scholastica’s College offering the hotel and restaurant management courses. These two sectors are apparently banding together to have their two cents worth count in the deliberation of the bill.

The general comments harp on a tremendously bureaucratic agency where there is a clear need to streamline functions. Instead, these agencies remain attached or are simply re-aligned or worse, re-named. At this point, there is an immediate and urgent need to re-direct our tourism efforts as we embarrassingly lag behind our Asean neighbors in this sector. But while the need is clear and established, the myriad ways of going about it is not. Is restructuring the DOT the key here? Surely, a master development plan shrieks for more attention, because a well-crafted master plan on tourism development that involves all the attendant sectors will be more productive than an organizational re-structuring of the DOT. All the private industries which will be affected in the long run by how well this master development plan will be carried out will naturally be positively involved.

As mentioned last week, the projected fund sources of this agency are mind-boggling, which certainly inspires greed and corruption. What is going to happen to the PTA and the PTAC? Also, what is going to happen to the PCVC (Philippine Convention and Visitors Corp.) which stands to be absorbed by the DOT should this tourism bill be passed. These are supposedly the development arms of the DOT and as such they should be amply funded if they are to go into substantial tourism promotions, both locally an internationally. With the bill’s passing, such bodies as the National Parks Development and the Bureaus for Domestic and International Tourism will also be abolished.

There is supposedly an appropriation from the National Government of some P500 million annually for five years. This represents the budget formerly allocated to the DOT’s bureaus for domestic and international promotions. Add to this at least 50 percent of the income of the Duty Free Philippines which remits its income entirely to the National Government, and at least 25 percent of the net income of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) which is generally regarded as the biggest fund source hereabout, and at least 25 percent of the net income of international airports and seaports, which could also be hefty. Rounding off the fund sources would be the investment earnings from the Tourism Promotion and Development Trust, and the full amount of travel taxes less the statutory allocations for the National Commission on Culture and the Arts, the Commission on Higher Education, and the Philippine Tourism Assets Corp. The Tourism Promotion and Development Fund which will finance the promotional activities of Tourism Philippines is going to be awash with money. Then, add to this fund the $5 night/room which the hotels and resorts will be mandated to tack on to their guests’ bills. Whew!

The HRAP also contends that it is already heavily taxed. Consider: 35-percent gross income tax, 12-percent VAT, and municipal taxes that range anywhere from .5 percent to three percent, depending on the area. Remember also that hotel guests and restaurant patrons are charged with a 10-percent service charge which, as a practice in the industry, is equitably distributed among its employees. Therefore, adding another $5/room/night to a hotel guest’s bill can be counter-productive, to say the least.

Philippine tourism needs all the support it can get, and to get it going, it needs a steady supply of funds. Don’t get me wrong — I’m not against tapping all these other rich government agencies to finance the promotional designs of the DOT. In fact, we can probably tap the private sector as well. The travel and tourism sector, and the hospitality sector, I guess would not be averse to contributing their share to this undertaking, not through more assessment fees but through contributions. There must be some way to come up with an equitable table of sorts, and these guys are responsible enough to work this out. After all, more than any other sector, they are in the direct line of fire in this endeavor.

Is a centralized tourism body with superpowers and super funds the answer to our woes? I would venture to suggest that we address the negative image that we have so successfully and masterfully created for ourselves abroad. Why are we intermittently on and off the list of high-risk travel destinations? The sensationalized news bureaus certainly do their share in painting the image of a country with huge peace and order problems, a real security risk. This is one area which our spin doctors can wrack their brains on.

There are other simple, "inexpensive" ways to improve our image. Improving the lighting of our streets will be a tremendous deterrent to crimes, and will go a long way in beautifying the streets and parks. As a starter, maybe we can begin with the streets leading from the international airport, and work our way from there. Removing the piles of garbage along the roads will be a big plus as this alone stands out as the biggest negative tourism factor any country can have. Cities and municipalities that tolerate such heaps along the roads should be penalized heavily for this grossness.

We should have more restrooms made available to tourists, and these restrooms should be maintained in the best condition at all times. There is absolutely no middle ground here. A smelly toilet is always fodder for beer talk and office talk and the attendant responsible for this miserable excuse for a restroom should be fired on the spot. No middle ground.

And we should have enough taxi drivers who are competent, with a working knowledge of English, honest and hardworking, neat-looking and properly attired. In one trip to Bahrain, that cosmopolitan Emirate state, I was suitably impressed by my cab driver who spoke impeccable educated English. In contrast, taxi drivers in, say, Bangkok are more burdensome than helpful as they speak no English at all. Abusive taxi drivers or those who are found to be dishonest should not be given a second chance. Do we already have a system in place to accredit these drivers?

Thanks for the quick reaction

Just when I was complaining of disembodied voice prompts courtesy of Citibank, I got a call from a pleasant-voiced lady from the bank to inquire about the complaint of a reader, I wrote about some weeks back. Apparently, there are customer-relations personnel who make it their business to monitor the bank’s image among its customers, and this is good news for bank and credit card customers, like most of us.

Citibank Card has graciously acknowledged that its systemic programs sometimes overlook small "snags" like changes of address phoned in but not immediately acted on. Thank you for the immediate and positive response. Like all other businesses, their after-sales service is surprisingly adequately manned.

Their customer service lines are heavily used, and it is difficult to get through, so they also graciously offered a direct line for serious customer complaints. Thank you.

Mabuhay!!! Be proud to be a Filipino.

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