'Open skies won't bring in more tourists'

MANILA, Philippines - The “open skies” policy that resigned Tourism Secretary Alberto Lim is advocating will not bring in additional foreign tourists to the country, Rep. Teddy Casiño of Bayan Muna said yesterday.

“This policy has been tried by the Ramos administration under Executive Order 219, issued on Jan. 3, 1995, but it did not take off. The country will have more headaches rather than benefit from open skies,” he said.

Casiño said the Civil Aeronautics Board has told a recent House hearing that open skies policy would guarantee more passenger seats.

“In fact, many foreign airlines have obtained numerous seat entitlements but have not been flying to secondary gateways outside Metro Manila like Davao, Cebu and Cagayan de Oro City,” he said.

“The more urgent thing to do is to address infrastructure, airport facilities, airport safety concerns, peace and order, and the country’s image abroad,” he added.

He said foreign tourists will not visit the country if they do not feel safe in the country.

He pointed out that in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the open skies policy is facing opposition from Malaysia, which believes that Singapore would be its primary beneficiary.

“So why are we so eager for a liberalization measure that would only be to our disadvantage like the Oil Deregulation Law and the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA), which promised lower prices for oil and electricity but the opposite happened?” he asked.

“The government should not make the same mistake again, so that passengers may not have to shell out more hard earned cash in the future just to ride a plane,” he said.

In advocating open skies, Lim cited the case of Bali, Indonesia, where there are direct flights from Singapore and other parts of Asia.

He said the number of tourists who flew to Bali increased astronomically since foreign airlines were allowed to fly directly there.

He also cited the case of Siem Reap, fast becoming a favorite tourism destination in Cambodia.