Selling a good product

Among the most jubilant over the restoration of the country’s Category 1 aviation safety status has to be Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez.

The upgrade by the US Federal Aviation Administration is on top of the recent lifting of the ban imposed on Philippine carriers by the European Union.

Having direct flights from Manila to Europe and more US destinations should make it easier for Jimenez to achieve the government’s target of 10 million tourist arrivals by 2016.

Not too long ago, amid the many problems besetting Philippine airports and the travel industry, some administration officials pondered whether the 10-million target – modest as it is compared to arrivals in neighboring countries – should be lowered. But so far the target remains unchanged. The Category 1 and lifting of the EU ban should buoy hopes that the 10 million can be achieved.

After a recent tourism marketing trip to Paris, Jimenez noted how little players in the French travel industry knew about the Philippines’ attractions, and how surprised the foreigners were at the enticing scenery and culture featured in a video presentation.

I’ve heard similar comments from the British, Germans, Spaniards and other Europeans. Their idea of a Southeast Asian vacation stops at Bali in Indonesia; Siem Reap in Cambodia; Bangkok, Phuket and Chiang Mai in Thailand; Kuala Lumpur and Penang in Malaysia; and Hanoi and Halong Bay in Vietnam.

Among Europeans, there’s probably more tourist interest these days in Myanmar than in the Philippines. From Yangon, a European exploring Asia will find exotic Nepal and Bhutan a shorter hop than the Philippines.

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Low awareness of the Philippines, compounded by the lack of direct flights between Manila and many capitals for many years, surely played a part in the absence of our country from the top 25 travel destinations of 2014, as chosen in an online vote on popular travel site TripAdvisor.

Istanbul topped the site’s Travelers’ Choice Destinations 2014 report. Turkey’s largest city dislodged Paris from the top spot; the French capital dropped to seventh place.

Four Asian destinations made it to the Top 10: Beijing placed fourth, Hanoi was eighth, Siem Reap ninth and Shanghai 10th. In the Top 25, Bangkok placed 20th and Chiang Mai 24th.

Last month the Philippines did join the world’s 25 best, in TripAdvisor’s beaches category. White Beach in Boracay placed 19th on a list topped by Brazil’s Baia do Sancho in Fernando de Noronha.

Those who vote on this site know their planet; many people must look up the top picks on the map. Second place went to Grace Bay in Providenciales, in the British Overseas Territory of Turks and Caicos. (Incidentally, the UK’s former ambassador to Manila, Peter Beckingham, is the territory’s current governor.)

Others in the Top 10 are Flamenco Beach in Puerto Rico; Rabbit Beach in Lampedusa, Sicily; Whitehaven Beach on Whitsunday Islands; Formentera in the Balearic Islands; Seychelles; Kailua in Hawaii; Rhossili Bay in the UK’s Swansea; Cuba’s Isla Mujeres; two other beaches in Brazil; and Radhanagar Beach on Havelock Island, in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Boracay was extolled on the travel site for its “white, powdery beach sand that doesn’t get hot even at high noon. It is really amazing.”

Even in this category, we can use more marketing to the world. There are several other beaches in our 7,100 islands that deserve five-star rating and global recognition.

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Another reason for the low awareness among foreign travelers of Philippine destinations, apart from the lack of direct flights and low tourism marketing budget compared to our neighbors, has to be the inadequate tourism infrastructure.

Laws passed to provide incentives for investments in this sector are still waiting for full implementation. The only sure beneficiary so far is the Iglesia Ni Cristo, which has developed a “Philippine Arena” classified as a tourism complex in Bocaue, Bulacan.

There are many sectors where private investments can be a boon to the travel industry. Ideally, more players should be invited to encourage competition and better services. But our laws, business and regulatory environment are designed to ensure that the miniscule few who control key industries will continue enjoying their special privileges, protected from attempts to pass anti-trust and anti-oligopoly laws. The political establishment, with its own vested interests, readily goes along with every effort to preserve the status quo.

Vested interests can place daunting roadblocks along the path of prospective investors in the tourism industry. So addressing the inadequacies in tourism infrastructure is going to take time.

Despite the inadequacies and other problems besetting tourism, the country’s natural attractions manage to reap praise from world travelers. Last year Palawan and Boracay were chosen among the world’s best islands by Travel + Leisure Magazine. (They’re not on the best islands list of TripAdvisor though, which picked Ambergris Caye in Belize as No. 1 for 2014, for the second year in a row.)

We have a good product. We need to do more to tell the world about this good product. The aviation safety upgrade opens opportunities that must not be wasted.