Let’s get serious about tourism

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of taking my American niece, her husband and their two children to Ilocos Norte and Sur to help them get a glimpse of Philippine culture outside of Metro Manila. I got an extremely good deal by booking flights on Cebu Pacific from the Internet (the taxes were several times higher than the fare). We stayed in Sitio Remedios, an exotic retreat in Currimao, Ilocos Norte whose ambience made us feel, as we arrived late in the evening, that we were dreamily in Bali, Indonesia.

As we visited the Spanish churches, ancestral homes, museums, Pagudpud’s white sand beach and Chavit Singson’s interesting and beautiful private zoo, the potential of tourism in countryside development became very clear to me. We had a well trained tourist guide who knew facts and figures that told the stories of the places we visited. My views about the Marcoses aside, it was also clear that Bongbong and his wife had put in place the beginnings of a good tourism program that can be used as a model in other areas of the country.

Even as Ilocos seemed more attuned to the needs of a tourism industry, I got the feeling there is something missing that only a nationally orchestrated tourism master plan can give. After all, Philippine tourism cannot be just an accidental collection of patchwork efforts here and there. It is also more than just Boracay, Bohol and Cebu.

That’s when I suddenly remembered we have a 15,000 strong bureaucracy called the Department of Tourism that could do more. We also have a tourism development bill that is gathering dust in the do-nothing lower House of Representatives. That bill will empower the DOT to accomplish more systematically.

I want to feel good about Tourism Secretary Ace Durano’s report that we are hitting record tourist arrivals and that by 2010, we should have five million tourists visiting the country. That is, of course, nothing compared to the tourism numbers of our neighbors but I can’t even believe his current figures in the vicinity of three million. I suspect Secretary Durano is counting all the balikbayans holding foreign passports as well as all those Koreans constantly commuting between Seoul and the Philippines and who, for all intents and purposes, should be considered returning residents here.

I look at tourism in Ilocos and I wonder why there aren’t more tourists, even domestic tourists, enjoying the region’s sights, culinary delights and hospitality. But then, I backtrack a bit and wonder if the charm of visiting the Ilocos provinces would be lost if we had more tourists. Just look at the mess that’s Boracay. I am sure there is a better way of making money on tourism without destroying the allure of a place.

Two words stand out: planning and standards. The unfortunate thing now is that there is practically no environmental or any kind of planning in our tourism industry. It is free for all. Again, just look at Boracay. And then, there are no uniform standards that are consistent with international standards and thus, in line with the expectations of international travelers. We are never sure if a five star accommodation in Ilocos is similar to one in Boracay or Bohol or Manila and New York for that matter. The functions of setting standards and enforcing them should never have been devolved to local governments who do not have the expertise to handle it.

If Congress passed that tourism bill or acted quickly to pass it in this Congress, we would have remedied many of our current problems and thus get on the right path of development in the tourism industry. The other important thing the tourism bill would make possible is a more active private sector participation in the industry’s development, specially on the marketing side. A single corporate entity, Tourism Philippines, would unite government and private sector effort to sell our tourism industry.

One of the snags that hampered the passage of the tourism bill during the last Congress was the objection of the Finance department to granting new incentives for tourism investments. While this is a typically myopic view of bean counting bureaucrats, the provision seeking incentives is not even the most important one. As far as I can see, getting organized in our tourism sector is the best reason for passing this bill. We urgently need a body that links government and private sector efforts and a tourism industry that functions on the basis of a master plan with definite and measurable targets.

One thing I am sure of is that we cannot go on like this. We have to take our tourism industry seriously. We cannot allow Tourism Secretary Durano to keep on saying he has high hopes about this industry and yet not hold him accountable to do what he must to provide the environment for the industry to grow. How can he say we will hit five million tourists in 2010 if he isn’t doing anything to have the flights to bring in the tourists nor do what he must to encourage building more rooms to lodge all those visitors? First things first, Mr. Secretary!

Mr. Durano, like his boss, is managing by press release. He even failed to give the tourism bill his full support in the last and present Congress despite Malacañang’s certification that it is a priority bill. It is as if Mr. Durano is afraid of the bigger responsibilities he will have if the bill becomes law. The bill makes his position more than a photo-op kind of job that a Bb Pilipinas beauty queen can competently perform.

Mr. Durano should show he means business by going all out and support the passage of the bill or shut up. I think Sen. Dick Gordon, a former tourism secretary, has done his part. Since Mr. Durano as the current tourism secretary has the most to gain from its passage by way of a more robust industry, it is difficult to understand his lackadaisical stance.

I realize that Mr. Durano, the politician, has another agenda. But he should realize a thriving tourism industry supports his agenda to run for a Senate seat, which is obviously at the top of his mind.

In the end, Mr. Durano must prove he is more than a pretty face. He needs to use his clout with his former colleagues at the lower house to get the tourism bill enacted into law as the only way to show we are finally getting serious about tourism.

Poor nurses

I received this e-mail from a reader.

I came across your article entitled “Now we have too many nurses” dated April 7. I agree with what you have written about us nurses.

I am a registered nurse here in the Philippines. I graduated March of 2006, took the local board on December 2006 and received the good news that I passed on January 2007. The year 2007 was spent reviewing and taking my US exams (CGFNS and NCLEX).

At the start of 2008, January 04 to be exact, I submitted my applications in various hospitals here in Davao City but to no avail. I haven’t received any calls until now. The Human Resources people of the hospitals told me that no nurses are being hired and that my application was for training only, meaning when called, it is I who must pay P2,500 a month in one hospital and P3,000 for three months in the other hospital.

I can understand why these hospitals would be freezing employment for nurses. They can get trainees working as nurses for better than free. The hospital who accepts 100 nurse trainees every quarter would earn P300,000 every quarter in training fees.

I feel that the Philippine Nurses Association has, in a way, neglected us. I wonder where our P300/year membership fee goes? See how many nurses are on the same boat as I am by viewing forums such as this link at http://www.nclex-rn.net/nclex/messages2008a/223464.html.

It also bothers me that I have to wait several months just to get listed on trainings such as IV therapy which costs P2,250 and God knows how much they charge for CPR. They have been milking nurses for quite a long time now. For the record, the Red Cross that normally holds the CPR classes does not do that anymore. They want us nurses to pay at the PNA to have the training.

This is so frustrating. I hope the media can help us with this.

Pinoy joke

Romana Borromeo forwarded this one.

Lumindol ng malakas noon.... Nagkagulo ang lahat at nag-panic.

Sumigaw ang isang lalake .. ‘Katapusan na! Katapusan na!’

Sumagot ang isa pang lalake.. ‘Tanga, a kinse pa lang.’

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