Tourism Congress calls on leaders to exercise prudence

CEBU, Philippines – Stakeholders of the country's tourism industry are calling on the country's leaders to exert all efforts to assure the international community that the government is seriously attending to the after-effects of the tragic hostage drama last Monday that ended with the demise of eight Chinese nationals.

"We call on our government leaders to be deliberate in their actions and exercise prudence in their statements because we cannot afford to be seen as indifferent, even callous to the situation our visitors found themselves in," according to the statement of the Tourism Congress furnished to The Freeman.

The Tourism Congress is composed of 44 tourism organizations representing primary and secondary tourism enterprises as well as allied and relevant enterprises in the tour-ism sector throughout the country.

"The private sector of the tourism industry that the Tourism Congress represents viewed with shock and disbelief the audacious hostage-taking of foreign nationals who came into our country intending to have an enjoyable time and ended up instead with this terrible experience.

The victims were tourists - foreign nationals we in the tourism industry are working so hard to invite to our country because their arrivals translate to many benefits for the Philippines. The eyes of the world were upon us, and brushing this off as just an isolated incident will not reverse the strong imagery of shattered windows, police with their guns drawn and hapless victims covered with blood being loaded into ambulances," the statement read.

Jenny Franco, Tourism Congress' vice president for Visayas and president of the National Association of Independent Travel Agencies (NAITAS,) expressed frustration on the government's absence, even on television, within the 12-hour saga.

"Why the President or any of his cabinet did not even come out on television like CNN or BBC and offered sympathy to the families of the victims? We must take steps to en-sure that this incident will not happen again," she told The Freeman.

Meanwhile, Cebuano businessman Manuel Osmeña, Cebu Hilton Hotel and Spa chairman Johnnie Lim, said the bloody incident will have a negative effect, not only on the country's tourism industry, but on the interest of foreign investors.

"Foreign investors were already positive on the Philippines and showing some interest in the last few weeks. I believe this incident will have a negative effect on their deci-sions. It's a very abnormal for a hostage-taking incident where many lives were taken," he said in a separate interview.

The incident's damage to the economy is the reason why the Tourism Congress is urging the government to put in place crisis public relations management mechanisms to properly address security issues in the country.

"We have not addressed this properly in the past to the detriment of our tourism stakeholders. The world should have seen a visible strong and calming presence of a high-ranking official directing the actions. They (the world) should have seen us helping the victims, ensuring their comfort post-incident, commiserating with their families-even apologizing to them for this unfortunate incident which nobody wanted to happen. They should have seen us taking care of them." (FREEMAN)