Camarines Sur Rep. LRay Villafuerte on Sunday said Tourism Secretary Ma. Esperanza Christina Garcia-Frasco has assured lawmakers the Department of Tourism is working with the different agencies on crafting a “whole-of-government” approach to addressing nagging concerns such as inadequate infrastructure that has for long hobbled the Philippines from competing with our Southeast Asian neighbors for overseas visitors, even if we have far better beaches and other tourist attractions than them.
Garcia-Frasco agreed with Villafuerte during a recent committee hearing prior to her confirmation by the Commission on Appointments as DOT secretary that the Department should not focus alone on just promoting the country’s must-see places but also on dealing with the other issues that have for long fettered the Philippines from overtaking our neighboring countries in terms of foreign tourists arrivals.
Villafuerte, the CA majority floor leader and a former CamSur governor, commended Garcia-Frasco for baring plans to team up with local government units and the private sector in boosting tourism nationwide, but stressed to her that one priority action for this sector is building enough and better infrastructure across the country to ensure seamless travel from Manila to our tourist spots, especially those in remote places.
“Maganda po ang sinabi niyo – how tourism could be an engine of growth,” Villafuerte said. “(But) basically, tourism is not just promotion, it’s also infrastructure. Your lofty goals are commendable, you understand the problem, you know the solution, but the limitation of the DOT is it seems to be focused on promotion,” he cited.
He said an airport is the first and last place that a foreign tourist sees in a country, but the DOT has no say whatsoever how airports are run in the Philippines because these are under the supervision of the Department of Tranaportation.
The main author in the House of Bayanihan 2, Villafuerte said infrastructure is really the key to tourism development, as he pointed out that the beaches of Thailand, Malaysia and Malaysia are more popular destinations even if we have better beaches in the Philippines, because they have better infrastructure going to these places.
He said the Philippines has better beaches than Phuket Island in Thailand, for example, but Phuket is a relatively more popular destination for foreign tourists, partly because of its better infrastructure.