Jimenez to Visayas bizmen:Venture into tourism

TAGBILARAN CITY , Philippines  – “I have news for you. The demand is here and now,” Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez Jr. yesterday challenged business leaders in the Visayas to take on the promising prospects of tourism.

Jimenez issued this statement to the businessmen, mostly presidents of the various chambers from three Visayas regions and some from Mindanao, gathered at the 21st Visayas Business Conference hosted by the Bohol Chamber of Commerce and Industry at the Bohol Tropics Resort in this city.

The secretary, in his keynote address, told them to take a leap of faith and rethink about the old business mindset that “nobody builds ahead of the demand” and take the contrary approach instead.

Shangrila, one of the top hotel chains in the world, has just acquired its 7th property in the country indicating its confidence that the tourism industry in the Philippines will continue to grow, said Jimenez, the man behind the “It’s More Fun in the Philippines” slogan.

Jimenez said the Visayas cluster is considered the country’s number one growth center as far as tourism is concerned, and reminded that “tourism is a people’s business.” While other businesses are gearing to automation, tourism will always need real people to serve its various needs, he said.

Citing statistics, Jimenez said that in 2011, the country registered 3.9-million foreign tourists. They also recorded 29.9-million domestic trips, which indicates that domestic tourists are visiting various places in the country.

“Do we have the rooms to accommodate these tourists? Theoretically, we have enough for now,” he said, but only in the case of foreign tourists who “book ahead of time” hence there is no worry that they will have no roofs over their heads when they arrive here.

Locals, who are now travelling more between the islands, however usually do it at the spur-of-the-moment. Thus, he said, the “need for 3-star, 2-star and good hostels” for the domestic tourist market. Small hotels and inns are just among the investment areas that local businessmen can venture into, aside from other tourist service oriented businesses, he said.

Jimenez also expressed optimism that under the Aquino administration, the target of attracting 10-million tourist arrivals by 2016 can be attained. “With a national tourism plan, we have now the most complete database of everything touristic in the country” and the list is growing, he pointed out.

The idea, he said, is to connect high growth areas and already developed destinations with the less known places, hence the clustering approach. It is aimed at introducing new destinations as well as to entice the tourists to stay longer, and make repeat visits.

Jimenez also delivered good news to Bohol officials present—Governor Edgar Chatto and Tagbilaran City Vice Mayor Nuevas Tirol-Montes, who represented Mayor Dan Lim—saying that the Asian Development Bank has chosen Bohol as its laboratory for “jobs matching and training ground for the tourism industry” in the country.

Bohol’s success story of being a combined ecological, heritage and adventure destination happened because of its officials’ “strength of will and clarity of their vision.” He said: “They are the ones who decided to take the long road to tourism without anything but the dreams of their leaders and the cooperation of the people of Bohol.”

Following Bohol’s formula to success, and its rosy future in tourism, Jimenez said: “The question to ask people in business is: Are you ready to invest in that enthusiasm?”

The Visayas convention, bearing this year’s theme “Visayas: Maximizing Potentials and Opportunities for Sustained Growth,” will end tomorrow, September 16. (FREEMAN)