Tourism could earn $400 million more

Inadequate infrastructure, number of flights and hotel rooms are all contributing to a loss of about $400 million in tourism revenues, according to calculations made by the Philippine Travel Agencies Association (PTAA). The figure is based on the estimated 500,000 tourists, spending an average of $800, that the Philippines is losing to other countries each year because of these inadequacies, PTAA president Jose Clemente III said.

This is exactly what I had been saying for quite a while now. Government tourism authorities should be doing their homework, working for building needed infrastructure even before they do the sexy task of supposedly promoting the country abroad. What’s the use of all those promotions if the tourists can’t get hotel rooms or get to our dream destinations?

Clemente, whose family business had been in tourism for decades, stressed that "had there been adequate flights, hotel rooms and infrastructure in place, tourism arrivals could have easily gone up to 3.5 million." As it happened, Clemente told Business Mirror, travel agencies in the Philippines had to turn down several tour packages for prime destinations like Cebu and Boracay due to insufficient number of hotel rooms.

I think it was Art Lopez, another veteran Filipino tourism expert who told me it is easier and cheaper to get five star class hotel rooms in Beijing and in Manila. I guess because of a shortage in hotel rooms in Metro Manila and strong demand, room rates are way up. Clemente estimates rates had gone up by an average of 15 percent and there are some cases when hotels charge double their usual amount. "It is a seller’s market because there is not much room available for tourists," he added.

Our limited number of hotel rooms also force hotels to block out reservations for ordinary tourists to give way to participants of big international events like in the Asean Summit in Cebu. "So we could not duplicate other countries which maximize these kinds of international events," Clemente said.

Then we have the lack of airports and connecting roads to tourist destinations that also shrink the country’s list of offerings. We need more Boracays and easy access to them if we are to become serious contenders in the world tourism trade. As I pointed out in this column in the past, Malaysia’s Langkawi Island gets two direct flights from Europe daily and the island is no big deal… hardly larger than Marinduque and the beach is nothing compared to Boracay or Bohol.

Unfortunately, our tourism bureaucracy has their priorities confused. They would much rather gallivant all over the world pretending to promote tourism to this country rather than sitting back and doing their homework first. The only reason the tourism portfolio is even a cabinet level position is to give it the prestige and the means to get other cabinet members to help in putting up the needed infrastructure.

And yes, whatever happened to the tourism investment incentives bill of Sen. Dick Gordon? We need that too in order to get the private sector to invest in new hotel rooms. Even existing hotel rooms need to be upgraded and that bill will provide the incentives to do so.

Anyway, the PTAA is making do with the present situation and is sponsoring the 14th Travel Tours Expo next month. PTAA is targeting 75,000 visitors and at least P250 million in sales for this year’s edition of the event. That’s good and encouraging but we could do a whole lot better.

PAF pilots

Given that they don’t have planes to fly, the air force should probably work out a program with local airlines to allow air force pilots to fly civilian aircrafts if only because the pilots must not lose their proficiency ratings. I understand flying military planes are different from civilian planes but given the predicament of the air force today, what choice do they have?

And it looks like getting fixed wing planes is not on top of the priority list of the air force. They are not going to get new fighter planes to relive the glory days of the blue diamonds. What little money they can scrape up will go to buy refurbished helicopters. No wonder the air force pilots are dying of boredom.

I can understand why they have to punish the pilots who broke discipline by flying civilian planes without permission. But given the situation they are in, the air force might as well institute a formal program so that they also evade charges of favoritism on who gets disciplined and who gets away scot free. Such a program would also provide the air force better information on the whereabouts of their pilots.

Better yet, the air force should probably have a program that would allow their pilots to leave the service early, providing for a way to reimburse government for the training expenses. We need some out-of-the-box thinking here from the air force top brass. Maybe the air force can even have special training courses for civilian pilots to maximize utilization of their capabilities. The commercial aviation sector lacks pilots and the air force has idle pilots. Somehow it seems such a waste that nothing is being done for everyone’s benefit, including the country’s.

Excess funds

Got this e-mail from reader Nemesio Diamante.

I am an avid follower of your column and I gain lot of information and insights from what you write. The experts’ observation is valid considering that after several years of crisis many Filipinos, particularly beneficiaries of OFWs have learned their lesson. Many have become wise spenders and saving consciousness is increasing. That’s the positive phenomenon we experience today.

My concern is how we channel the excess funds floating around for long term projects. There are so many opportunities that are overlooked by Filipino investors and authorities. May be only few are aware that the Koreans and Chinese are agressively positioning in Mindanao and Palawan to gain access to large track of lands to be able to produce bio-fuels such as ethanol from sugarcane or corn and bio-diesel from coconut, African oil palm and jatropha. The renewable energy projects are qualified for CDM accreditation under Kyoto Protocol.

Right now we are in touch with tribal groups in Mindanao who are awardees of CADC (Certificate of Ancestral Domain).  The minimum area awarded to the groups of Manobos, Higaonons, etc. is 30,000 hectares and they are looking for joint venture partners to help them develop their assigned areas.

We hope you can assist us in finding venture capitalists who can spearhead the project.   This is a good prospect for our OFWs who looking for more secured and long term investments. We have a feasibility study for a 30,000-ha. jatropha plantation and processing project.

Getting old

Dr. Ernie E, who is getting old, has this to say about it.

"OLD" IS WHEN ... You are cautioned to slow down by the doctor instead of by the police.

Boo Chanco ‘s e-mail address is [email protected]