Rising ESL rates turns off education tourists

CEBU, Philippines - If the Philippine government will not do something in regulating the increasing cost of English as Second Language (ESL) rates posted by schools and institutions, the country may lose its opportunity to attract foreign students, especially from Korea.

According to Jaehee Jung, head for the Department of Tourism and English at the Hallum College in Korea, the Philippines is now threatened by other countries such as Australia, and New Zealand, in terms of attracting ESL students from Korea.

“Your government should control the rates for ESL services, otherwise you lose the opportunity to other countries,” said Jung in an interview.

He said Koreans like to come to the Philippines, Cebu in particular, not only because for its good ESL service, but also because Cebu is considered by Korean’s as “Hawaii” in Asia.

If the increasing rates of ESL services will not be addressed immediately, the Philippines may be able to see declining Korean ESL students, and this would also affect the number of Korean tourists coming to the Philippines.

In the past, a two-month ESL program for instance only costs US$1,000, now the rate has gone up to US$2,000, same as the rate of Australia, and New Zealand.

Also, he said the influx of more Korean capitalist investing into ESL in the Philippines, should also be regulated, in order to standardize the ESL service here.

Jung said the reason why more Korean investors are putting their money to set up ESL facilities here, because of the attractive rates, and it has become more profitable business for them.

Last year, Cebu through the Cebu Business Club (CBC) initiated the establishment of Cebu Hub for English Excellence (CHELE) in order to achieve the goal of attracting at least 30 thousand education-tourists a month, largely come from ESL students abroad.

Record showed that at present, Cebu registered 10 thousand (or less) tourists, who are taking up ESL in Cebu a year. Most of them are Koreans.

However, CBC president Dondi Joseph said that if big facilities and properly regulated ESL institutions will be set up, attracting thousands of ESL students a month can be easily achieved.

Joseph projected, the education-tourism will be able to further turn-around the tourism figures for Cebu starting next year, if both private and government sectors will pull their hands together in focusing this potential.

Middle of this year, a group of industry stakeholders including universities owners, businessmen, established the CHELE.

CHELE is a brainchild of Cebu Leads Foundation, of which members are influential businessmen in Cebu, whose passion to formalize and develop the province potential in attracting ESL students worldwide.

One of the flagship programs that will be started by CHELE was the successful International Conference on TESOL (Teaching English to speakers of other languages) held in August last year.

According to CHELE president president Bunny Pages said the group will coordinate with TESDA (Technical Education and Skills Development Authority) and the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) in order to establish the credibility of Cebu as an ESL destination in the world.

CBC, as well as the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) earlier expressed their confidence that Cebu will be able to take off in attracting education-tourists not only from Korea, but other countries in the world, where English is not their “native tongue”. (FREEMAN)