Competitiveness of RP tourism

The proposed $5 "tourism fee" currently part of the debated Senate Bill 2128 authored by Sen. Richard "Dick" Gordon continues to hang like a Damocles sword over our tourism industry stakeholders. We had started a discussion last year on the topic, which continues to draw reactions from the industry’s various sectors.

Last week, we featured a letter "putting in proper perspective the so-called Tourism Fee." We promptly received a reaction letter from Robert Lim Joseph, chairman of National Association of Independent Travel Agencies. Here is part of what he wrote.

"Please allow us to respond to the letter of Marciano Ragaza, past president of the Philippine Travel Agencies Association, which you published in your column dated Jan. 29, 2007.

"Mr. Ragaza defended the imposition of $5 ‘tourism fee’ on tourists for every night of stay as contained in the bill principally authored by Sen. Richard Gordon and claimed — wrongly though — that objection to the fee is being led by ‘so-called independent travel operators."

Counter-productive fee

"We strongly believe that the $5 fee is counter-productive as it would unnecessarily increase hotel and lodging rates, thus greatly discouraging tourists from visiting the country. This is also the position of the Hotel and Restaurant Association of the Philippines and several travel organizations.

"While other countries and tourist destinations are working to be competitive as seen by their cheap tour packages, here we are imposing a fee on tourists that will surely jack up tour packages.

"In the provinces where small hotels and lodging houses abound, the fee would translate into 50 percent or more room rate increase per night of stay.

"Tourists are already complaining about discrimination in the imposition of fees because of the different rates for local residents and visitors. With the tourism fee, it’s like penalizing tourists for visiting the country.

Alternative funding source

"Instead of the tourism fee, which the bill’s authors said would be used for promotions and marketing, why not get this budget from the government’s national appropriation fund.

"The bill has proposed getting a 50-percent share from the income of Duty Free Philippines, 25-percent share from the net income of the Philippine Amusements and Gaming Corp., 25-percent share from the net income of international airports and seaports, and share from travel taxes, among others. Why not get a share from these allocations for promotions and marketing, instead of imposing the tourism fee?

"Based on the percentage of share from these agencies as proposed by the bill, the Department of Tourism stands to get more than P5 billion from Pagcor and P1 billion from Duty Free Philippines alone per annum. It’s a whopping amount which could be allocated in place of the projected revenues from the proposed tourism fee.

"We can also get a share from the VAT collections of the government for tourism promotions. There is really no need to impose the tourism fee, which would only kill the tourism industry.

Opposition from hotel and restaurants

"For Mr. Ragaza’s information, the strong opposition to the tourism fee is not being led by us independent travel operators but by the hotel and restaurant owners and executives nationwide belonging to the Hotel and Restaurant Association of the Philippines (HRAP), the biggest and most influential hotel and restaurant group in the country, and even members of PTAA where I belong.

"A position paper signed no less by the officials of the HRAP with attachments from various restaurant and hotel association groups around the country was sent to the Senate when news about the imposition was published.

"There are other provisions in the bill that we are against like the over-centralization of powers and functions in the DOT but we will not discuss them this time for lack of space.

"We believe that Sen. Gordon is being misled by local and foreign vested interest groups. We mean well for him that’s why we are opposing the bill’s provisions that are detrimental to the industry."

Competitiveness in the tourism market

Are we pricing ourselves out of the highly competitive tourism market? We received another letter, this time from a US-based couple who were choosing between Thailand and the Philippines for their vacation destination. I guess they’ll choose Thailand. Here is the short email from Gemma Will:

"I only want to make a comment about how to improve Philippine tourism.

"Last night my husband and I were browsing at cheaptickets.com comparing airline fares from US to Bangkok and US to Manila. The cheapest to go to Bangkok was about $660, and to Manila is about $1,200. Imagine the 100 percent difference.

"(I don’t understand how) the Thai government is able to control the price of airfare and the Philippine government can’t. By looking at the figure, it is surely more attractive to visit Thailand than the Philippines, isn’t it? Besides this, there are a lot of beautiful temples to see and cheap gold to buy in Bangkok, which is pretty rare to find in other countries. I’m only saying what would be an American budget tourist’s point of view."

Responsible and smart poker play

Philippine Poker Tour (PPT) is the leading advocate of non-wager poker tournaments in the country. PPT is also promoting responsible and smart poker play particularly to new converts of the game popularly known as Texas Hold’Em. It is simple to learn yet the game possesses lots of complexities not easily discernable to neophytes. Thus, frustration easily sets in if a beginner consistently loses in the game.

Before joining any of the various tournaments being organized, and investing money in tournament fees, it is better to spend time learning the basic moves and decision processes involved in the game. This would be a wiser investment of time and effort. One does not join golf tournaments, for example, without spending some time at the driving range with someone teaching you how to use the various clubs in the golf bag.

Get hold of books about the poker game, and practice with friends or visit several poker gaming sites that provide practice games for free. Don’t rush and just dive into poker tournaments without preparation. It will just be a waste of time and money. Anyway, there will be many of these tournaments opening in the coming months.

Join tournaments when you feel you now have what it takes to win. Play responsibly, play smart.

Visit Philippine Poker Tour (PPT) official website, www.PhilippinePokerTour.com, for tips on tournament play, announcements of major poker events for this year, and the latest news in the poker game world.

Should you wish to share any insights, write me at Link Edge, 4th Floor, 156 Valero Street, Salcedo Village, 1227 Makati City. Or e-mail me at [email protected] or at [email protected]. If you wish to view the previous columns, you may visit my website at http://bizlinks.linkedge.biz.