Tourist magnet
BANGKOK – During a Holy Week break many moons ago I visited Bangkok for leisure with my mom and kid brother. We arrived late in the evening and had to slog through infernal traffic from the Don Mueang International Airport to the city center.
Traffic was hell in the city, but Thailand even back then was a bargain hunter’s heaven, from hotel accommodations to tour packages to local food and souvenirs. The peso at the time was slightly stronger than the Thai baht.
Today the peso is trading at 1.55 to the baht. My mom and I, together with my brother and his family, arrived here late in the evening of Friday, but this time we breezed through the wide motorway connecting Suvarnabhumi International Airport, opened in 2006, to our hotel in the city center, which now has a subway system.
Suvarnabhumi, which had its share of controversies during construction, replaced Don Mueang in 2006 as Thailand’s main gateway, but Don Mueang reopened in March 2007. Today Don Mueang is reputed to be the world’s largest airport for low-cost carriers and serves as a regional commuter flight hub. Suvarnabhumi, meanwhile, is a modern airport whose size we can only dream of in the Philippines.
In Manila, the full operation of the NAIA Terminal 3 has eased congestion in the airport buildings, but not on the runway. On Friday night our Thai Airways flight idled on the NAIA runway for nearly an hour and a half as the aircraft waited in line for its turn to take off. Upon landing in Suvarnabhumi, airline personnel frantically rushed our fellow passengers with connecting flights to their respective boarding gates.
The other passengers already waiting in their seats in the affected flights would have been advised that the cause of their delayed departure was traffic in Manila’s international airport. Let’s hope such advisories don’t scare away from our country prospective tourists.
At least the arrival lines at Suvarnabhumi immigration were not as short as I expected.
* * * Because I reached adulthood when most of the Philippines’ development indicators were similar to Thailand’s, I often compare our pace of progress with that of the Thais.
The Philippines is currently one of the fastest growing economies in Asia, and we have enjoyed sustained though still widely inequitable growth for several years now. In terms of gross domestic product in Southeast Asia, we’re currently behind Indonesia and Thailand. Per capita GDP in 2016 stood at $5,907.91 in Thailand and $2,951.07 in the Philippines. We trail our neighbors in terms of foreign direct investment.
In July 1997 when the Asian financial crisis began in Thailand, the peso was slightly stronger at around 26 to the US dollar than the baht, which was trading at 29. The financial contagion spread to the rest of Asia including the Philippines. While we weren’t hit as badly as Thailand, this country made a remarkable recovery, swallowing bitter pills prescribed by the International Monetary Fund and “graduating” from the IMF program way ahead of us.
Thailand has had its share of political turbulence: corruption scandals, military coups, a deadly war on drug trafficking launched by a populist leader. Yet it has managed to achieve impressive economic growth.
It has a strong agricultural sector, besting us in exporting many crops and processed farm items that we also produce. And it draws foreign visitors in numbers that we can only envy. From backpacker inns to five-star hotels, in streets and markets and Buddhist temples, Thailand teems with foreign tourists. In the first three quarters of 2017 alone, Thailand welcomed 25.5 million foreign visitors, so the country probably achieved its target of 37 million tourist arrivals for the year.
* * * How does Thailand do it? We have similar natural attractions. Thailand has a distinctive Asian culture, untainted by colonial rule, but this isn’t the only reason for the success of its tourism.
Among other things, its leaders fully understand the importance of tourism in the country’s economic growth. That understanding is critical in implementing policies and programs and providing the infrastructure necessary to support the travel industry. This is facilitated by better systems that make Thailand rank high in ease of doing business. The Thais have built modern airports where there are direct flights to most of the world’s cities. They have invested in roads.
Internet in Bangkok is faster than ours. While waiting for my flight at the NAIA 1, I gave up trying to access the free wi-fi on my laptop.
The “more fun in the Philippines” campaign faces competition here, from shopping to food tripping and entertainment. We’re on a food trip in Bangkok; Thai cuisine is renowned not only for its delectable flavors and unique presentation but also for the affordable prices. On Saturday we had a great lunch at the MBK shopping center’s “Food Island,” which was packed with tourists and locals alike.
When I visited this city with my mom and brother the first time, Thailand was grappling with a serious AIDS/HIV problem. Thanks to an aggressive campaign for safe sex (condoms, for example, are available in male public toilets), the problem has become manageable. And the Philippines now has the fastest growing HIV infection rate in the region.
The sex shows continue in the city’s red light district in Patpong, but tourists also throng the area for the night bazaar. It’s hard to tell the Thai ladies from the “ladyboys” or kathoey, the male transgenders who look more feminine than me. They’re all over the city and contribute to the country’s unique appeal.
Regardless of political turbulence (and even natural calamities such as massive floods), the country and its people welcome the world.
And the world shows its appreciation, with investors and tourists arriving in droves.