Destination of the year

Congratulations to Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez. Through his determined efforts, our country was named as “Destination of the Year” at the 25th Annual TTG Travel Awards last Oct. 2.

The TTG Travel Awards are given by TTG Asia, a travel trade publication catering to tourism industry professionals. According to the Department of Tourism, the country was chosen as the most outstanding destination because it distinguished itself with proactive steps and initiative towards the development and promotion of the travel industry.

According to Sec Mon, “This award belongs to all Filipinos. It is the Filipino people that have ensured the acceptance of It’s More Fun in the Philippines as a true and accurate description of the participative and active role every Filipino plays in ensuring a successful and enjoyable visit to the Philippines… ”

I am a proud Filipino that despite seemingly hopeless problems, we managed to get this award. I have no doubt that Sec. Mon worked tirelessly to make this award possible. But I am afraid we got the award too soon.

No, I am not being a wet blanket. I am afraid we are predisposed to rest on our laurels, and some of our officials will think the work is done. I am also worried about reports that Sec. Mon wants to return to private life and take care of an ailing wife, something I would do too if I were him. 

Sec. Mon is simply phenomenal. Of course I knew that because of personal experience. He headed the creative team that helped me relaunch Petron way back in the mid ‘80s. It was his creative genius that enabled us to shake off the government-owned image to that of a strongly competitive rival to Shell and Caltex.

Actually, I am amazed that the TTG gave us this award at all. We are very much a work in progress in tourism. We may not even meet the 2016 arrival target, through no fault of Sec. Mon. The communication side got launched ahead of the work that needed to be done on the product itself.

Indeed, the It’s More Fun in the Philippines campaign promised more than we could deliver. From my experience in marketing communications, this should have been reason enough for a catastrophic failure. The tail cannot wag the dog, a feat Sec. Mon managed to accomplish, at least in the short term.

Sec. Mon managed to deliver the basic stuff as mandated by the Tourism Law which former Sen. Dick Gordon, a former tourism secretary himself, sponsored. They have started work on the classification of tourism establishments based on strict standards of performance. Sec Mon also managed to win some amount of peace among the perpetually warring factions of our local tourism industry.

But our tourism infrastructure is sadly inadequate. Our airports, specially NAIA, languish in the list of the world’s worst airports. Even as Sec Mon tried to improve the attitude and service delivery of the bureaucracy in contact with tourists (immigration, customs, airport staff) the battle is far from won.

No thanks to DOTC, most of our airports have inadequate facilities, even something as basic as clean toilets, or toilets at all. One passenger who needed to urgently relieve himself was bitten by a dog which an airport security manager brought to work that day and tied in a toilet used by security staff.

Air conditioning in the NAIA terminals is woefully inadequate if available at all. Philippine Airlines, then under Ramon Ang, had to spend its own funds to provide for adequate air conditioning in Terminal 2 as well as repair and change a major part of its power generator. RSA told me he couldn’t take the risk of waiting for NAIA management to do its job because PAL passengers are affected.

The promised night landing facilities in provincial airports are nowhere to be found three years after these were promised by then DOTC Sec Mar Roxas. Such facilities were supposed to help decongest daytime flight schedules at NAIA and alleviate flight delays and air traffic jams.

But don’t take my word on how bad our tourism gateways are. Here is one account I saw on Facebook from a netizen, Aida Padua.

“Cathay Pacific’s big move to NAIA T3 complete with fire truck shower on the 777-200 aircraft.....the ground staff and country manager meeting the passengers as they disembarked from the first CX plane that landed on T3… however, the facilities of this airport were a big disappointment... let me walk you through it...

“From the air bridge, we walked through to the Immigration area where we found lonnnnnnnggggg lines for foreign passports and even longer lines for Philippine passports...

“Aside from the lonnnnnngggg lines at immigration, THERE WAS NO AIRCONDITIONING we arrived at our line at 2300hrs and finished exactly at midnight. I spoke to the immigration officer and I told her that these long lines are totally unacceptable and embarrassing to returning Filipinos as well as the foreigners entering our country.

“I asked her what’s the ‘big excuse’ this time of immigration? And she said that they DO NOT HAVE THE PASSPORT READERS... EACH IMMIGRATION CUBICLE HAS ONLY ONE WORKING COMPUTER AND EVERYTHING IS DONE MANUALLY!!!

“WT....F!!! Why then were the airlines asked to move to T3 when they are not ready? Passport readers are essential to read our so called chipped equipped passports to facilitate the entry and exit of all passengers.

“The officer said and encouraged me to report this to media to let the public know the incompetence of people behind the operation of the airports. Incompetence reigns from immigration officials to the airport managers who do not have the foresight to do the planning and contingency plans in running the airport.

“I am feeling so frustrated because I was just in Mumbai and saw how their airport has metamorphosed into a world class airport showcasing their heritage, culture and art... it is like a museum reminiscent of a peacock feather. I feel shamed to see our airport so way, way, way behind our Asian neighbors...

“Kelan pa kaya magbabago at magiging proud ang mga Pinoy sa airport natin... T3 is supposed to be new and therefore all its facilities should be working... eh bakit walang aircon... bakit walang passport readers, bakit walang computers? Madilim pa yung arrival area....ano ba yan!!”

As if that is not enough, rackets thrive in NAIA terminals. Here is an account of Manila Standard columnist Bong Austero.

“There’s a new scheme at the Terminal 3 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport that suspiciously smells like a money-making venture of some powerful official. In the past, carts were readily available at the various bays for passengers travelling with luggage…

“When we got to the Terminal 3 last week to take a flight to Tacloban, there were no carts available!  Our search for the elusive carts took us to three gates, but there were no carts available.  We tried asking the security guards manning the gates for help, but they were passive and gave lame excuses.  It was as if everyone in Terminal 3 were part of a conspiracy to ensure that passengers to do not get their hands on baggage carts.

“We did notice the new porters in their purple and green uniforms roaming around each pushing a cart.  They would approach each new arrival and offer their services and the use of the carts…  Once inside the terminal, we noted that carts were deliberately parked near the check in counters and far away from the passenger gates… 

“I talked to a security guard to inquire about the new system.  He confirmed what I suspected all along.  They have all been instructed to ensure that the porters would have something to do; in short, to not assist passengers so that we would be constrained to avail of the services of the porters.

“Obviously, someone powerful has cornered the contract to provide the porters at Terminal 3 and has decreed that everyone cooperates to make sure the business venture makes money at the expense of passengers…

“I almost applauded one elderly lady who very bravely just took a cart away from a porter shushing him with the admonition that the carts were public property…”

Congratulations, Sec Mon J for the award. But so much more has to be done to really deserve it. Convince P-Noy to get his non performing buddies to deliver service or resign. The worse thing that’s bound to happen is to make our bureaucrats believe we can get such awards without doing what they are supposed to do.

Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is[email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @boochanco