PH not yet ready for tourists

According to local tourism industry players, travel warnings against going to the Philippines are not the reason why tourists won't visit the country but because of poor service and unpreparedness of the tourism sector.

“There are not enough flights, not enough seat capacity, ill-prepared marketing and the quality of accommodations is not good enough,” said Alejandra Clemente, president of the Federation of Tourism Industries of the Philippines (FTIP).

In a press conference at the Mandarin Oriental called by tourism stakeholders, Clemente said that the country is "not ready" to accommodate many tourists all at once.

According to her, there was hardly a change in tourist arrivals ever since the release of travel advisories about alleged terrorists attack in the Philippines.

Approximately 2.8 million arrivals had been recorded so far, compared to the 3 million arrivals last year.

When it comes to holiday security, Philippine National Police Director General Raul Bacalzo and Tourism secretary Alberto Lim signed an agreement that will start the creation of the Tourist-Oriented Police for Community Order and Protection Program.

The PNP Director General expressed that security issues were just one of the reasons behind low tourist arrival, saying that the government was not being aggresive enough in terms of marketing strategies. The lack of an open skies agreement with other countries also hinder any potential tourism traffic, Bacalzo said.

Former Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Jose Luis Yulo said developed countries were shifting their attention to Asia and this gave a lot of hope for the country's tourism.

“The Western world is not only looking at China, but other countries in Asia, and that’s where we should focus,” Yulo said.

Meanwhile, stakeholders said that the slogan "Pilipinas Kay Ganda" fiasco was merely a small part in the low tourism arrival in the Philippines and that in would not solve any of the industry's problems.

Marciano Ragaza, president of Travel Enterprise and former president of the Philippine Travel Agencies Association, said that DOT had promised a more “democratic process” in choosing a next slogan.

The speakers agreed that it was time to change the “Wow Philippines” slogan, which was coined by former Tourism Secretary Richard Gordon.

Margie Moran Floirendo, former president of the Davao Tourism Association and former chair of the Southern Philippines Regional Tourism Council, said that the "Wow" slogan was already "working for several years, so I feel we need a new slogan to boost our image, and to speak better to what we can sell.”

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BiyahengPinas.com thanks this source for the article:
Yap, DJ. Tourists ready for PH; PH not ready for tourists. Philippine Daily Inquirer. Posted December 12, 2010 from
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20101214-308808/Tourists-ready-for-PH-PH-not-ready-for-tourists