DOT Secretary Joseph Ace Durano: ‘I’m a glorified salesman’

The building is one of the most outstanding examples of neo-classical architecture in the country. Completed in 1938 during the Common-wealth period, its series of slim and impressive columns dominate the façade, and like many grand old government buildings that don’t use their main entrances at the top of wide and imposing steps (an unexplained phenomenon in the country), the Department of Tour-ism is also accessed through a small, side door.

Located at the Agrifina Circle, it’s a stone’s throw away from other heritage buildings: The National Museum, and the former Departments of Finance and Agriculture.

Inside, the doors are painted brown, the walls cream, and the offices are numbered with paint. Room 400 is the office of the youngest Cabinet Secretary in government, Joseph Ace Durano. This room has hosted 12 tourism secretaries in the past 20 years, none of them coming close to the age of the present one.

It’s one of the questions Durano is often asked when he’s abroad: How old are you, Mr. Secretary? One time, according to a source, an interpreter actually expressed doubt that he was indeed the tourism secretary. At his most charming during an interview with the Chinese media, he shot back, "Do you want to see my calling card?"

He turned 35 on April 3, which means that he was two years old when martial law was declared, seven when the first Star Wars was released, 13 when Ninoy Aquino was assassinated and 21 when Mt. Pinatubo erupted. He was a teen in the ‘80s, a congressman in the ‘90s. Between the beginning and the end of those two decades, he earned a degree in Asian Studies at the University of Redlands in California, a law degree at the Ateneo, and took up Japanese Studies at Waseda University in Tokyo.

His age was seen as a liability in the beginning (apart from the fact, of course, that he did not have a tourism background). But once you get to talking to people at the DOT, including the old hands who like to say they’ve been there "since Jose Aspiras’ time," you realize that his age is an asset and understand that if President Gloria Arroyo was bent on appointing a Cebuano to the post last year, then she couldn’t have done better.

"Everybody associates him with youth. He’s very inspiring," says Tourism Assistant Secretary and STAR columnist Eduardo Jarque. A true citizen of the world, Jarque has been with the department for 28 years, 10 of those as tourism attaché in Los Angeles, 13 as tourism attaché in London while concurrently serving as regional director for Europe. "He doesn’t know everything but he’s learning so fast. He’s very focused, he’s running the department like a private corporation, which means that he doesn’t bother with tonterias, those foolish things. He zooms in and out of places."

At a DOT function at the Westin Philippine Plaza once, Jarque was waiting for him in the lobby when he bumped into Westin marketing head Rose Libongco who had come down to meet Durano. It was the big prom night of different schools and the hotel was filled with young students in their evening clothes. Libongco quipped, "I’m just making sure he’s going to your function instead of one of the ballrooms."

Jarque says, "There’s always this little shock when you meet him and once he starts talking you get over it quickly."

Beijing tourism attaché Jazmin Esguerra, who’s also served for a quarter of a century in the DOT and who opened the Paris office in 1995, says, "Because he’s young, he’s more determined and he has the energy to pursue the department’s goals. He’s very open and supportive. He’s quite remarkable, really."

"He moves fast, he thinks fast, he likes new ideas," says Shahlimar Hofer Tamano, DOT director for special concerns.

Durano’s at the office at 8, he starts meetings on time and doesn’t waste time on chitchat (well, maybe he has a donut or two during), he doesn’t take the elevator, he doesn’t have a bodyguard and he goes to official functions alone. It’s Durano’s energy that rubs off on people, and as one insider says, even the "deadwood of a bloated bureaucracy have found some use." Just last week, he took a total of five flights in a span of 72 hours – from Manila to Hong Kong and then to Beijing for the Beijing International Travel Exposition, where he made a case for the Philippines to Chinese travel agents and tour operators – and right after the presentation and interview with the Chinese media, he went back to Hong Kong and on to Cebu for the opening of Asia’s largest spa village at the Shangri-La Mactan. Not too long ago, he also made an early morning trip to Hong Kong, skipping the Philippine embassy and going straight to a meeting with tour operators to ask why arrivals to the Philippines had dipped by as much as 50 percent and then caught the last flight back to Manila.

That’s essentially how Durano regards his position. "I’m a glorified salesman," he says with a laugh as he’s pushing his own carry-on suitcase at the Beijing International Airport where we caught up with him, and looking the least bit rumpled after an economy flight and arriving just before midnight.

That’s what he did in Beijing: Sell Philippine destinations. At his presentation at the Hilton Hotel, he underscored the 30 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries and at the same time pushed activities and destinations – such as Manila, Boracay, Palawan, Vigan and Laoag, Subic and Clark, Bohol and Davao – that the Chinese might enjoy when in the Philippines.

Durano emphasizes the importance of the Chinese market. "For the first four months of 2005, arrivals from China increased by 105 percent compared to the same period last year. This is one market that we can continually leapfrog from. It has an outbound market of 30 million and the projection for 2010 is 50 million and 100 million by 2020. Even only 10 percent of the projection for 2010 is five million, one percent is 500,000. We have traction in this market now."

Research by the consulting firm Monitor Group reveals that the Chinese market continues to grow by 20 percent each year since 1998 and that their disposable income continues to increase or what Esguerra calls the "rise of the middle-class Chinese." With China’s RMB currency continuing to appreciate, tourism spending is rising as well.

At the moment, the Philippines has only 0.2 percent of the market, posting arrivals of 9,272 as of April this year. If you think about Thailand’s 750,000 Chinese tourists, you’ll either want to weep for your country or start promoting it on your own.

While the goals are modest and realistic, Durano remains optimistic about the numbers. "In 2004, the Chinese weren’t even in the top 10 visitor arrivals; now they’re our No. 4 source market (Korea and Japan are Nos. 1 and 2, respectively). In 2004, we received only about 32,000 Mainland Chinese tourists. This year our official target is 58,000 but based on the present arrivals, we are confident we’ll hit 70,000."

The DOT is now focusing on specific Asian markets – Korea, Japan and China – which pay big dividends.
This means that 90 percent of the DOT’s promotion budget goes to these three countries and the rest scattered all over the world. It is risky to put all the eggs in just three baskets, but if you’re looking at the numbers it’s paying off as early as now.

"For the longest time, we kept complaining that we had only this much budget, that it’s a lot smaller than Thailand’s. In a situation like this, the only logical strategy is to focus the expenditure so you can make the greatest impact. When you decide where to invest, just like any start-up business, you do it in a destination that will give you the biggest and fastest return. And definitely it’s North Asia, and China is the biggest market."

Of the DOT’s share in the small cupcake that is our national budget, its promotion fund goes to TV commercials, billboards, print advertising, and familiarization trips for the foreign media – all of this, for the first time, in the languages of these markets. Japan, because of the inherent cost of advertising there, takes up P150 million; China P90 million; and Korea 60 million.

Jarque explains that where before the promotions went to the English programs, they’ve now shifted their strategy. "We go into the telenovelas and in Mandarin. In the old days it was CNN. Now everything is in the local language, which makes a lot of sense."

Esguerra, who opened the Beijing office last year under then Secretary Roberto Pagdanganan, says that for the first time, a tourism secretary is actually putting his money where his mouth is. Past efforts in China consisted of no more than sales missions. "We didn’t have an office here, which made it hard to do business. There were no materials, no support, no advertising. It was handled from our Hong Kong office, which is a very different market. When Secretary Durano came in, he was the one who really gave support in terms of money. The rest only paid lip service. They kept saying China is important, but they didn’t give the money, that’s why we never got anywhere. It was all rhetoric. I’m a technocrat, not a politician. When you give me an order, I do it, but you have to give me the resources. Secretary Durano, and I’m not saying this because he’s the current secretary, was the only one who pushed for China. It was only when the Mainland Chinese saw that we were moving that the operators began talking with us seriously."

The Philippine participation in the Beijing Tourism Expo was crucial, to say the least. The expo featured 20 country pavilions and over a hundred local travel agencies and related industries spread over 15,000 square meters of exhibition space.

"Tourism is always perceived as a social function," says Esguerra. "It’s not. It’s a business. Some ambassadors think we should put the money in parades and golf tournaments – that’s not going to work. You put the money into something like this – a travel expo, advertising, promotion – and you get groups from that. If you put it in a parade, is anybody going to the country because they saw your parade?"

With the Philippines being the featured country at the expo, its booth at the exhibition attracted more than just a passing glance, thanks in large part to its design and location, which was along the main corridor and just a few meters from the entrance.

Jarque laughs when asked how they got such premium space. "Before, we were always near a bathroom or some awful location because the money for the participation would come at the last minute. This time, we reserved and paid six months in advance."

Which was just as well, since even rich destinations like Hong Kong were relegated to the next hall, almost hidden from sight.

Jarque continues, "There’s a lot of cooperation here. Philippine Airlines gave a lot of concessions, the Bayanihan (who performed at the fair, the presentation and the Philippine food festival at the Hilton) we got for a song and they also helped us out in the booth. The budget (around P3 million) is not a reflection of the true, actual cost."

The design of the Philippine booth stood out from the rest because it used a light box along its width, making the photo of a very idyllic beach jump out. With the Bayanihan dancers dressed in their finest Philippine costumes and dancing the tinikling and involving spectators, the booth was a natural attraction. They were probably one of the most photographed people in the entire fair.

Durano says, "When I go around the world, one thing I realize is that the Philippines as a product itself has never been a hard sell. It’s easy to sell it, it’s just a matter of promoting it, of providing the information in the markets, finding the right balance of products and the right outlets for your promotion."

He’s confident that the Philippines can compete with countries that have had far better success in tourism. "We have three natural advantages. One, we are the closest tropical destination from this market. With the busy lives of people these days, travel time is such a big factor. For them to go to other destinations, they have to travel two or there hours more – hours they can already spend on our beaches. Two, the Philippines is not a mono destination; from Manila to Boracay to Palawan to Cebu to Bohol and Davao. The diversity of the country as a destination is an advantage. Three, which comes out in our exit surveys, is the warmth of the Filipinos, We are just a happy, friendly people. It’s a big deal when we serve and accommodate visitors."

Durano believes that once you get the tourists, investments will follow. In Beijing, he held talks with the China Association for International Friendly Contact, a powerful NGO. "When China just opened up way back in the ’70’s, the government reached out to the rest of the world through this NGO. Ambassador Yao expressed to me that this association is interested in investing in hotels. It feeds on itself, when there is a demand from a certain market; there is also investor interest. When they see people from their own country going to a certain destination, investors follow. We see that happening now with Korea."

Perhaps one of the best things that Durano has done apart from making the Philippines highly visible abroad is that he’s brought a sense of cooperation within the department and the private sector.

"When he was first appointed, we had a wait-and-see attitude. Now you want to be on his team, you want to work with him," says a DOT insider.

Jarque adds, "People feel part of it, they want to be part of it."

And in a government that’s relentlessly screwing itself and the people it’s supposed to be serving, that’s something.