Recollections of a travel pioneer
THERE’S NO BETTER TIME THAN NOW TO VISIT THE PHILIPPINES. Once best-kept-secret locales now figure prominently on must-see destinations lists. Airlines fly to more cannot-be-missed sites, with increased frequencies. The archipelago is made more accessible through inter-island ships, upgraded ro-ros and updated super ferries. More accommodations have also been set up, and residents have opened their dwelling places for home-stay options.
Several activities are organized, ranging from historical and cultural to sports and adventure. The leading cuisines of the world are no longer a distant fantasy – you name it, and we’ve got it. Shopping options are endless, as markets, malls and tiangges serve as natural people magnets. Even enhanced fiestas, continuously celebrated, are a hit with participative revelers. And after tiresome days out, weary holidaymakers wind down at numerous spas for a holistic approach to rest and relax.
Local residents have finally learned to appreciate the true value of tourism. They have even engaged in friendly competition among different regions to host visitors. There is definitely a pride of place in play.
Though we must admit there are still glitches and hiccups, it hasn’t always been this way. Alas, this is only paradise – mind you, not heaven!
“Oh no, not at all,” declares Alejandra Clemente – Dading to all – the pioneer in the field of Philippine travel and tourism, the driving force behind several worthwhile relevant causes, and the founder of Rajah Tours Philippines, the country’s leader in tour operations, during our chat one recent afternoon, as she shares her vivid memories of the milieu way back 1972.
“Restricted open skies led to severely limited flights,” Dading recalls. “The then government-owned Philippine Airlines had a monopoly. Foreign airlines in turn had great difficulty to apply for traffic rights.”
“Our only international gateway was Manila. Sadly, the other provincial domestic destinations were simply not ready yet for mass tourism,” she adds.
There were only three 5-star hotels – Manila Hilton, Hyatt Hotel and Hotel Intercontinental Manila. Tours were limited around the capital city and its environs, such as Pagsanjan Falls and Taal Volcano and its lakes. Even cemeteries were once highlighted in itineraries, she laughs.
“And overall, the peace and order conditions were far from desirable,” evokes the hotel and resort developer.
And she knows all this because she was there!
Forty-four years ago, way back in 1972, Dading and her husband Joe Clemente established Rajah Tours Philippines with a working capital of P10,000. “At that time, there were only some 200,000 arrivals to the country, mainly from the USA. These were Americabased Filipinos and Fil-Ams who yearned to bond with family and friends, attend reunions of clans mostly during town fiestas and celebrations of often-missed milestones of loved ones. These returning
– the now-ubiquitous word didn’t even exist then – rarely ventured far from home, and thus, they were hardly considered as tourists per se.”
“That same year, thenpresident Ferdinand Marcos realized the importance of tourism. He expanded and reinforced the mandate of an already-existing small government agency – the Board of Travel and Tourism Industry – and thus led to the creation of the Department of Tourism with Jose Aspiras as its first secretary,” Dading recalls.
“The adoption of the simplifi and integration of regulations came into being, as the concerned stakeholders responded favorably. This was supplemented and complimented by aggressive marketing and promotions in neighboring progressive nahand tions and territories such as Hong Kong and Japan, and naturally, the United States of America, home of generations of Filipinos,” Dading adds.
The airlines quickly reacted – among them, Philippine Airlines and Cathay Pacific Airways – and scheduled muchneeded and in-demand flights more frequently. Commercial charters followed soon. Even cruises started to feature Manila as a port of call.
“By then, the guests had discovered the islands, and in just two short years, the arrivals increased to two million jetsetters,” Dading says.
However, this influx of journeyers started to cause a number of problems – not enough rooms and amenities, not enough tour buses and guides, not enough attractions and entertainment, and the list went on and on.
“Call it a blessing in disguise or just lucky timing, as the all-important annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group chose Manila for its next venue in 1976. Tax incentives were granted by the DOT through its attached agency, the Philippine Tourism Authority (PTA). There was also an unprecedented hotel boom that spawned international hotel chains to include Westin Philippine Plaza, The Peninsula Manila, the Mandarin Oriental Hotel – now closed – and the Manila Garden or Dusit Hotel Nikko, among many others, which added to over 5,000 rooms to the country’s inventory,” says Dading. “This is when the tides turned – local investors started to look favorably at tourism, then regarded only as a song-anddance industry.”
Emboldened by on-going infrastructure developments, Aspiras successfully bidded for and hosted prestigious international travel and tourism conventions which other national tourist organizations would vie and die for.
The UN’s World Tourism Organization, with their relevant and updated list of choice destinations, complete with do’s and don’t’s, together with media associations, Society of American Travel Writers to name one, renowned and trusted dream makers, were the top-ranked source for reviews for the man-on-the-street – ready to pack up, fasten seatbelt and explore new discoveries.
Meanwhile, the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA), Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA), Australian Federation of Travel Agents (AFTA) and the Japan Association of Travel Agents (JATA) held their series of conventions and congresses in town to experience first- what the islands have to offer. Pre-Internet, they were every traveler’s best friend. So reliable, in fact, that wanderers would never leave home without conferring with a wholesale tour operator or a retail travel agent.
“So the DOT, together with the revitalized private sector, sponsored what seemed like never-ending familiarization trips for members of the travel trade and the press around the welcoming isles, from the sea, to the mountains and everything in between,” Dading shares.
And the formula worked, for the country achieved an all-time-high tourism boom, with 4 million vacationers within a year.
However, a series of unfortunate incidents like the declaration of Martial Law and the assassination of popular senator Ninoy Aquino stunted this new-found growth. The People Power Revolution brought high hopes along with President Corazon Aquino. Unfortunately, several coup attempts caused a rather slow recovery.
Former secondary destinations such as Boracay, Cebu, Bohol, Palawan and Baguio started to develop rigorously – which boosted arrivals to 5 million. Despite our marketing efforts, sales and promotional endeavors of competing foreign destinations advanced at a better-funded and much faster pace. The reality of the matter was that the slice of the pie was getting smaller and smaller.
At this point, Dading, ever the tireless industry pioneer and pillar, championed the adoption and implementation of the Tourism Act of 2009 to include the following: infrastructure development under the Tourism Master Plan, espouse the provisions of the law, particularly incentives under Tourism Infrastructure And Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA), DOT and Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to foster stronger and closer coordination in the development of tourism in the major destinations, to train manpower resources, to adhere to a realistic aviation policy, a technology driven sector and a solid marketing and promotional program shared by tourism-mandated government agencies and concerned private stakeholders, to take the lead within the region.
Dading says, “I would like to see a renewed vigor in the industry. It can be the number one foreign currency earner for the country, which results to greater tourism receipts and more jobs. It’s everybody’s business.”
Having said that, Dading, a number of years short of turning 80, says she is now finally ready to retire. The mantle has been passed on to the able hands of youngest daughter Aileen Clemente, now chairman and president of Rajah Travel Corp., and eldest son Jose Clemente III, president of Rajah Tours Philippines and Trans Inter Corp.
“Now, I relish playtime with my grandkids, religiously watch competitive games in sports channels, relax with fellow retired colleagues – all members of several eating clubs – and I frequent my new-found obsession, New York City,” she says as she breaks into a glowing smile.
She prepares to rediscover the globe yet again, but this time, not on sales calls or presentations, workshops or seminars, congresses and conventions, but as an honest-togoodness discerning traveler – laid-back and easygoing with lots of precious time, with cherished family members and close friends.
Believe it or not, her bucket list ironically gets longer as the days unfold. “Once you start to travel, you don’t wish ever to stop, for it gets more exciting every time you visit a destination – either for the first time or as a repeat visitor. It certainly can be addictive,” she proclaims, as she excitedly tells us about this suitcase she bought on sale…