Beauty is not enough — love the Philippines

TOURISM today is recognized as important to developing nations, including the Philippines, due to three factors: it is one of the largest industries in the world, one of the fastest growing, and one that has among the greatest inclusivity, benefiting the large corporations, local vendors and wide range of service providers, including the less educated stakeholders.

This early part of 2024 saw spectacular movements in tourism program promotions of our neighbors.

Including the visa waiver promotions, hotel bookings for Bangkok tripled during the week of February 10 year on year, while those for Singapore jumped nine-fold, according to reports by LY.com. During the Chinese Lunar New Year, tourists to Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia combined grew more than 30 percent beyond 2019 for February

10-17, according to Trip.com.

Combined tourism spending in Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia on Alipay increased nearly seven times from last year, representing an increase of 7.5 percent for February 9-12 compared to 2019 levels. The Tourism Authority of Thailand reported that Chinese tourist arrivals increased more than sixfold from 2023. Chinese outbound tourists grew four times since the pandemic, reaching 87 million in 2023. In 2019, mainland Chinese tourists took 155 million outbound trips, totaling $255 billion in travel spending.

How did the Philippines capitalize on the growing and high-spending Chinese tourists?

Asean neighbors received record China tourists in the just concluded Chinese New Year, a result of their easing visa requirements.

In contrast, various sources report that the Philippines is making it more difficult for Chinese to get visas, including reports of Chinese visa applicants being made to pay, as exposed by a Philstar report by Iris Gonzales (“Permits, visas for sale,” Jan. 7, 2024). Yes, we should keep criminals out, but why are our neighbors succeeding reasonably, and why do we have to throttle our entry of legitimate tourists?

Statistics show that spending, even with Chinese tourists, is shifting from purchasing goods to experiential trips, and younger travelers are more keen on trying out new, “less touristy” destinations, particularly for food, nature, innovative facilities and cultural experiences.

Food tours, learning trips, nature trips, medical and movie tourism, and, of course, events, where Singapore has been very successful, as the world saw with the Taylor Swift multipleday concert, and is planning further events. Gaming revenues are also expected to be up.

How is our tourism industry doing? The Philippines’ highest level of international incoming tourists was approximately 4 million in 2019. We are only slowly recovering; in 2023, we had 5.3 million, with some 9 percent being returning Filipinos.

In 2023, Thailand had 28 million tourists, Vietnam 12.5 million, Malaysia 26 million, Cambodia 5.5 million (for a population of 17 million), Singapore 13.6 million (for a population of 6 million), and Indonesia 11.8 million.

The Department of Tourism,

under Secretary Cristina Gracia Frasco, aims for a substantially full recovery in 2024 with a plan to increase investments in creating “high-value” tourism experiences highlighting heritage and culture unique to regions in the country. It would include three to five-day tour packages covering experiences for renowned and lesser-known destinations. Plans for digitalization and accessibility are also being worked on. A decent plan all in all, including training for security and guides.

However, how is it doing on the ground? Despite the most appalling stories, tourist numbers are improving.

No matter how one expects to face the long lines, horrendous traffic, or “chaos of Manila,” there’s always an exciting euphoria of returning home; however, when one goes through the airport and experiences some troublesome inconveniences, that Mabuhay! excitement can quickly turn into a frustrated balikbayan, irate foreign visitor, or concerned investor.

Let’s share a few of them.

What is the impact on Philippine tourism when the news reports stories of extortions of foreign travelers, extortions of OFWs and senior citizens, death-defying swallowing of dollar bills (not pesos?), nature trips advertised via airport bugs and rats? Are daily news of legislative wrangles and declarations of readiness to fight wars conducive to attracting more high-value paying tourists and balikbayans looking to splurge on family or invest their hard-earned incomes from abroad? What are the steps to help improve our offerings for a more positive experience for domestic and international arrivals?

Pinoy travelers also find international travel like Vietnam and Thailand more affordable than Palawan and Boracay, according to a recent Bilyonaryo report.

Various airport devices are not working, and people are in extremely long lines because of poor planning. This can easily be solved by adding competent personnel or crowd management systems, especially during peak periods. Some airport taxis still ask for extortionate rates, sometimes over a hundred US dollars, although there have also been improvements, including more stable Wi-Fi that allows travelers to opt for Grab.

There is also the common holding of people simply because they have similar namesakes marked for holding, especially in foreign languages and locally. Should our immigration teams have a quick protocol to verify rather than an hour or more?

Learn from popular destinations that Filipinos love to go to.

We should publicize a hotline with a competent and solutions-seeking call center for immediate access to onthe-ground tourists’ complaints and give stronger penalties. There is a basic need for Chinese, Korean and Japanese speakers and signs to avoid problems. Interpreters don’t need to be at the airport 24/7 as we can avail of recognized technology translators. Let’s learn from our popular cosmopolitan destinations like Singapore, Hong Kong and Dubai.

Are we studying how to scientifically improve and streamline systems to welcome tourists more efficiently and comfortably while ensuring compliance with our security and immigration agencies? For example, we are still requiring e-travel registration for the arrival of Filipinos and foreigners to the Philippines, imposed by the IATF-EID during the height of the pandemic (one of the sources of very long lines and irate passengers during peak hours), that many other countries have found a way to forgo without jeopardizing security and health considerations?

Tourism, a major development contributor

The United Nations World Tourism Organization and World Economic Outlook, which studies economic growth worldwide, notes that “those economies with large travel and tourism sectors show strong economic resilience and robust levels of economic activity … have recorded faster recovery ... than where tourism is not a significant sector.”

This is one of the industries that have huge multiplier effects on our efforts to rev up our economy.

Austin Ong has been an educator in the US, China and the Philippines. His research interest focuses on Philippine development policy and Asean economic development.

New Worlds by IDSI — for the intelligent, progressive readers who want to see the world beyond the headlines (idsicenter@gmail.com).