It is estimated that tourism constitutes 10 percent of the world economy. It stands to reason that countries around the world are scrambling to attract tourists.
In the case of France for instance, being the most visited country in the world with 83.7-million visitors for 2016 (compared to our 5.9-million visitors), tourism contributes about 7.6 percent to France’s Gross Domestic Product. It is tourism that is keeping France basically afloat. For those who have not yet visited France as tourists, there are more foreigners visiting France in a year than the whole French population. Tourists are also staying longer and spending more.
Another country is Spain. It is the third most visited country with 65 million tourist arrivals for the year 2016. That number earned the country $56.4 billion for the year 2015 compared to our $6.4billion.
Our Tourism department, in spite of great challenges that it has been facing, has time and again tried to market the country as a great tourist destination. Up to now, however, our tourist arrivals cannot compare to other countries in the region. Of the six major Asean economies, we are the last in tourist arrivals with 5.9-million visitors for 2016. The country failed to attain its goal of six- million visitors last year.
For this year, it is hard to see how the country can come close to achieving its tourism goal given what is going on in Mindanao.
Part of our problem is that the government seems to think that tourism is simply the problem of the Department of Tourism. On the contrary, if we want to promote the county as a tourist destination, the whole Team Philippines must participate. This means that the whole organs of the Philippine Government must participate to make the country a top tourist destination.
If we look at the more mature countries in Europe whose tourism industries have developed spectacularly, it was a concerted team effort that got those countries to where they are today. As the old saying goes, Rome was not built in one day.
Since we are a latecomer in this field, we should not waste any time in improving our infrastructure at a more rapid pace together with our peace and order conditions. If we improve governance and our international reputation, there would be less need for tourism ads because the reputation of the country will take of itself.
The city of London suffered successive terrorist attacks in a span of a few weeks. Tourists however, continue to flock to that city. Why? Because the city and the country as a whole has a solid reputation. How about us? I leave that to the reader’s judgment. How many times has the Tourism Department come out with promotional ads that have been plagiarized? If we cannot even be original in our advertisements, then we are really in trouble.
It is also disappointing that other organs of government, instead of helping create an atmosphere of stability, are the ones creating an atmosphere of instability. It is the duty of senior leaders of government to be the first ones to uphold the law so that our democracy will work instead of always testing the political system to the limit.
Even in the best of times, it is hard for the Tourism department to market the country. All it takes is one kidnapping by the dreaded Abu Sayyaf and all the hard work is gone. We have to bear in mind the effect of the presence of the Maute group, BIFF, Abu Sayyaf, MILF, MNLF and the CPP/NPA on our tourism sector.
Even with all these huge and daunting problems not only in peace and order but also infrastructure, the fact that visitors still come and the volume is even increasing (albeit modestly), speaks volumes of what the country can offer in tourism.
There is no doubt that the potential is there. Next to our spectacular beaches and dive sites, the well-known hospitality of the Filipino people remains to be our biggest assets. That is why even if some parts of country are categorized as a conflict zones, we can still develop a robust tourism industry.
The Ukraine which is also facing a secessionist conflict in the DONBAS region of that country and whose economy is deteriorating is still the 22nd most visited country in the world with 12.7-million visitors. Mexico with its own huge drug problem and runaway homicide rate is still the 10th most visited country with 29.1-million visitors. So is Thailand with its own Muslim problem; it was able to attract 24.8-million visitors and is the 14th most visited country last year.
So what makes these countries different? Maybe they have better promotional techniques. It could also be that those countries have such irresistible natural wonders that people simply do not care about the dangers of visiting these countries. It is possible that our own press is making things a lot worse than they really are?
The DoT at one time asked the press to tone down their reporting so as not to discourage potential tourists. Was the DoT right in doing so? Maybe not, but there is a saying that goes—it is not what is said but how it is said that is important.
Whatever our shortcomings are, it is obvious that we have a lot of work ahead of us in order to achieve our tourism goals. It is also clear that the Tourism department alone cannot do it even with the greatest of ads.