Promote destinations one at a time

SKYJET CEO, Dr. Joel Mendoza, and his BAe-146 (British Aerospace) jet service to our sociocultural destinations.

A top official of the country’s youngest airline appealed to tourism officials and stakeholders to come together for the sake of the country and pool resources on a focused approach at marketing new destinations.

Dr. Joel Mendoza, chief executive officer of Skyjet Airlines, said that our country has more exotic destinations aside from Boracay and Palawan that the world has yet to discover.

“Caramoan was just another one of our taken for granted gems until Survivor raved about it. Many foreign travel wholesalers believed in its potential and we now have more foreigners coming over,” said Mendoza, lamenting the fact that foreign travelers are more aware about Caramoan’s allure than Filipinos in our own country.

The young airline executive believes that our country would be able to expand our market base faster if the world hears about and sees more of our other national assets than the usual Boracay.

“We have 7,107 islands! There is more to the Philippines than Boracay and Palawan,” Mendoza said, adding that we can decongest these destinations by promoting new ones.

The Skyjet CEO appealed to Tourism Secretary Mon Jimenez to cure this imbalance by promoting new destinations by focusing on a particular destination one at a time, “Why don’t government, the private sector, and media agree on coming together for the greater good of our country and use shared resources to focus promotions on let’s say Caramoan next year, Siargao in 2015, etc?

Mendoza believes that this is one way to achieve the much-touted inclusive growth of the Aquino administration where more communities benefit from our country’s national assets. Recent employment data released by the government showed that economic growth did not trickle down to the poor and did not translate to more jobs for the unemployed.

It is said that tourism has a domino effect because it produces more jobs and livelihood opportunities for the communities that hosts tourist attractions. More visitors mean more people needed to service them, more food consumed, more places to sleep in, more souvenir items to buy, and so on and so forth.

Skyjet offers jet service to Batanes, Virac, Busuanga, and Surigao using a fleet of BAe 146 “whispering jets” which are capable of Short Take Off and Landings (STOL). Skyjet also flies to Caticlan and Catarman soon.

Why Bertie Lim? Because tourism is not all about promotions.

Tourism is the answer to address poverty and unemployment.

Thus says an International Labour Organization (ILO) report that urged governments to invest in the travel and tourism industry to address poverty and unemployment because the industry will soon make up more than a third of the total global services trade. It said tourism contributed at least 9 percent of total GDP and provided more than 235 million jobs in 2010, representing 8 percent of global employment.

GMA News Online reports that ILO expects the travel and tourism industry to create 296 million jobs by 2019, which is definitely good news for the Philippines because the country intends to double last year’s tourist arrivals from three million to six million in 2016.

The think tanks, the joint foreign chambers, and the current administration know this. That is why we are very fortunate that our tourism czar is someone who can deliver. One who could put mechanisms in place to ensure that our annual visitor arrivals count will substantially increase to 6.6 million by 2016. This translates to 5 million new jobs and Php 1.3 trillion in revenues from tourism.

The silent operator that he is, Tourism Secretary Bertie Lim is focused on doing just that.

People in the industry … those who are genuinely involved in primary tourism enterprises … those who have been in tourism and travel for decades … say that, as someone who once belonged to their ranks, Sec. Lim’s understanding of intricacies of the industry is of great value to the Aquino administration.

They say that people have to realize that tourism is not just about promotions.

That is what the DOT secretaries before him concentrated on. The problem is … what happens when tourists arrive here and realize that the product is sub-standard? Can you imagine the damage that will cause by simple word of mouth alone?

Bertie continues with promotions but is diligently working on the product.

Unfortunately, that’s something which people do not find sexy. People are so used to seeing tourism as all hype and hoopla that anything else is relegated to the background and not given much weight.

What ordinary people do not know is that product development is necessary for tourism to grow. Look at any Thailand and Malaysia – they poured money in developing the necessary tourism infrastructure. Investments and more tourists followed.

Ask any marketing expert and they will say that promotions is only a fraction of the marketing mix. Traditionally, the marketing mix is made up of the 4 P’s : Product, Placement, Promotions, Price. The marketing audit determines what mix among the 4 is prioritized.

Bertie is a no-nonsense workhorse. He is decent and hardworking. That is why he will not pander to please the whims of those with vested interests. He is not one who will show what people want if he knows that it is not what is needed at the moment. He is not one who will throw away good money in promotions if the product (our country and its destinations) is not yet ready.

He knows what he is doing. For the sake of our country … trust him.

The secretary has accumulated at least 20 years direct experience in tourism.

He was president of the following companies and institutions involved directly in tourism: ANSCOR Travel Corp. (travel agency), Tours Specialists Inc. (local tour and tourist transport operator), ANSCOR Tourism Development Corporation (general sales agency), ANSCOR Aviation Corporation (air charter operator), Ten Knots Development Corporation (El Nido Resorts operator), Ten Knots Philippines Inc. (Palawan land holding company), Palawan Tourism Council (regional tourism promotions council), El Nido Foundation (social development agency and partner of resort owner).

Aside from these, Bertie has been a member of the following bodies involved in tourism: National Ecotourism Development Council, Palawan Development Council, Southern Tagalog Tourism Council, El Nido Protected Area Management Board, among others.

So you see, the man knows his craft.

He is also an academic heavyweight: an economics graduate from Ateneo, a Master in Business Administration from Harvard Graduate School of Business, and a Master in Public Administration from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.

So, when he says that we need to improve our product first by improving access and infrastructure in cooperation with other agencies – it is what’s best for our country.

Thus, the pocket open skies policy, pushing for new international airports, repair of existing airports, and other tourism infrastructure projects. We will expound on this later once the tourism road map has been approved by President Aquino.

Alberto Aldaba Lim will definitely add on to the family legacy enshrined by his mother Estefania Aldaba Lim and sister Cheche Lazaro.

So, when people ask “Why Bertie Lim?” It is because we need someone credible to show us that tourism is not all about promotions.


Please email your comments to paulsison@ideasman.ph

Long weekends benefit tourism, says DOT Sec. Lim

SIARGAO, April 29. Tourism secretary Alberto Lim welcomed the announcement of Malacanang declaring June 20 as a special non-working holiday.

Lim revealed that they are studying the possibility of reviving the holiday economics of the previous administration where holidays were adjusted to create long weekends that encouraged domestic tourism and resulted in higher visitor arrivals and more tourism revenues for favorite local destinations.

“We just have to avoid the abuses of the past,” said the DOT chief.

He explained that creating new holidays is counter-productive. But, there is no loss in productivity by moving holidays in the middle of the week to a Friday or Monday and it is good for tourism, “You are actually enticing consumers to take trips and spend their money elsewhere.”

Lim added that a two-day weekend is too short for people who have to travel out of town and having long weekends is good for communities with local attractions.

“We will forward our recommendation to the president once it has been thought out thoroughly and finalized,” said the secretary.

As per Official Gazette post, President Benigno S. Aquino III signed Proclamation No. 154 entitled DECLARING MONDAY, JUNE 20, 2011, AS SPECIAL (NON-WORKING) DAY THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY.

According to the Proclamation No. 154, June 19, 2011 marks the 150th birth anniversary of Dr. Jose Rizal, thePhilippines national hero.

The proclamation further declared that to give all Filipinos the opportunity to commemorate Rizal’s patriotic deeds and sacrifices for the country, rekindle their admiration and respect for him, and to celebrate this milestone with appropriate ceremonies, the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) requested that Monday, June 20, 2011, be declared as special non-working holiday instead of June 19, 2011, which falls on a Sunday.

TURISMO MISMO: The Donsol Experience

The butandings of Donsol. The Ivatans of Batanes. The rice terraces of Banawe. Coron Reef of Palawan. The white sands of Boracay. The heritage town of Vigan. The Hundred Islands of Alaminos. The tarsiers of Bohol.

The Great Provider that He is ... God has blessed us with such an abundance of natural resources that there is enough for everyone to live by. Why then is there still so much hunger and deprivation everywhere?

We live in a finite planet. And, if we do not learn to share and nurture what we are blessed with it will be a “tragedy of the commons”repeated over and over again.  The tragedy of the commons is a metaphor that illustrates how free access and unrestricted demand for a finite resource ultimately dooms the resource through over-exploitation.  This occurs because the benefits of exploitation are enjoyed by a few to the detriment of the greater good. This, in turn, causes demand for the resource to increase until the resource is exhausted.”

Sounds familiar?

In the Philippines, the sustainability of ecotourism is endangered by local communities largely dependent on illegal fishing/logging and other acts of environmental degradation for their hand-to-mouth existence and survival.

One of the solutions to this serious problem is to make ecotourism replace illegal and destructive forms of livelihood. Nature + Nurture.

Ace Durano, Secretary of the Department of Tourism, explains, “This advocacy should be done with urgency, commitment and universal appeal. In short, there is a race against time to make the ‘destroyer’ become the ‘protector’ of nature.”

But how do we make the local community that rapes the environment be the same local population that protects our country’s natural assets and attractions?

GREET and Turismo Mismo

“The first step is to level the playing field by giving the local community easy access to skills, capital, market opportunities and values formation,” says Durano.

With this in mind, the Department of Tourism launched twin programs to help these local communities and their natural assets become environmentally-sustainable, economically-viable and socially-equitable so they could better promote and safeguard their respective ecotourism sites.

The Grassroots Entrepreneurship and Employment in Tourism, or GREET Program, was conceptualized by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to enhance livelihood opportunities for ecotourism communities and its young entrepreneurs after her visit and interaction with the whale sharks of Donsol in 2006.

In rationalizing the GREET program and its mandate to award grants Arroyo stated, “We came up with the GREET program because we, Filipinos, smile a lot, greet a lot, and always welcome visitors with ‘Mabuhay.’ The pioneering spirit is so alive in our youth that many of them want to be explorers, guides, and trailblazers. This fund can help them realize their dreams and generate interest in undiscovered treasures that dot our beautiful land.”

Arroyo believes that God has gifted us with spectacular nature sites that we don’t have to build multi-story buildings to draw in tourists. And there is a big tourism market that sojourns to areas unspoiled by commercial development.

She attests, “Donsol which I have just visited is only a sample. We still have many Donsols, plenty of Boracays, Siargaos and El Nidos waiting to be discovered in the Philippines. In these beautiful places, a single umbrella, one banca, and a simple hut make for an unforgettable experience. This is our competitive advantage. Other countries may have infrastructure muscle, but powerful and rich as they are … they can’t craft synthetic sunsets or artificial marble sands.”

 “Thus,” Arroyo exhorts, “I am asking ecotourism warriors to step forward so that together we can realize your dream and together we can conquer the world.”

Turismo Mismo, on the other hand, is an advocacy program that underscores the role of tourism in uplifting the lives of the local populace. Townsfolk in rural areas are prone to experiment on empty promises of the different ideologies in their search for answers to a better life. So they become easy prey to community organizers of different fronts for communism, socialism, and other isms but eventually end up hard-pressed and in a worse situation. Fortunately, many of these rural areas have natural assets in their midst that can become the answer in their search for a better life if managed properly.

“Our message to them is ‘Turismo Mismo!’ --- Tourism is the key to a better life, not the other isms,” asserts Durano.

The pilot area: Donsol

The sleepy town of Donsol, Sorsogon struggles to maintain balance between embracing progress and preserving its heritage.

Donsol is endowed with a hilly and rolling terrain, making the people thrive in the production and export of rice and copra, making Donsol a major food supplier in the area.  Not to be outdone are the abaca and hemp industries, supplying high grade products such as rope and paper.  Added products from these natural resources are handicrafts and souvenirs for Donsol’s tourists.

Nature has also blessed Donsol’s waters, making it a home for multiple fish species and marine mammals.  These waters continuously feed Donsol’s inhabitants by providing tons of fish per year, which the people use for subsistence, and also sell for added income.

The Donsol seas are also home to one of nature’s most absorbing creatures, the Whale Shark or “Butanding” (Rhincodon typus). Donsol is also known to have the most number of Whale Shark sightings in the world, thus making Donsol “the Whale Shark Capital of the World”. 

“People in this town have known about the whale sharks for generations but paid little attention until marine biologists monitored the behaviour of the overwhelming number of these giant creatures,” said Allan Amanse head of the Butanding Interaction Officers (BIO).

Large but gentle, and thoroughly enchanting, the Whale Shark attracts a large number of tourism and environmental visitors to the area, again providing Donsol residents added revenue and tourism potential.

“The fishing village was suddenly flooded by divers and tourists who wanted a glimpse of the world’s largest fish,” Lamberto Avisado Jr., president of the Butanding Boat Operators Association (BBOA) reminisced.

Donsol is also gifted with hectares of mangrove forests as well, providing habitat for a diverse collection of swamp species; further testament to the vast natural biodiversity of the area.  These mangrove forests are an added tourist attraction in itself, on account of the fireflies which have made the mangroves their home.  At night, the natural light emitted by millions of fireflies illuminate the mangrove line, in yet another simple yet fascinating display of nature’s beauty.

Donsol, however, is not without its share of problems. 

Located along the Philippines’ typhoon belt, Donsol almost always experiences the wrath of every typhoon that passes the Philippines. After such storms, the people of Donsol struggle to rise from the destruction brought about by floods and strong winds.  During this time, the fishing is difficult, and the Butanding which attracts the tourists temporarily moves to calmer waters. 

Thus the tourism which adds revenue and life to Donsol becomes a seasonal matter, almost non-existent during the stormy months.

In addition, the people are forced to survive on reduced resources, as everything from food supply to the raw materials needed for Donsol’s industries are depleted by the storms.

The Donsol experience

In November 2007, the Department of Tourism (DoT), through the Philippine Convention and Visitors Corporation, launched the Turismo Mismo! Advocacy campaign for sustainable ecotourism by awarding GREET Program grants. The BIO received 10 sets of diving suits and other paraphernalia. While, the Tinanogan Mangrove Planters and Fisherfolk Association received an initial batch of 15,000 seedlings/propagules from the Department of Natural Resources (DENR).

The BBOA led by Avisado received assistance in the form of boat improvements for the 41 fishing boats so it can accommodate tourists for the peak season. Wooden seats, wooden flooring, and tarpaulin roofing were installed to make it more comfortable and safer for tourists. Propeller guards crafted from stainless steel and fiberglass were also installed to protect the whale sharks from getting clipped and wounded by the rotating propellers. The DOT also subsidized the expenses for Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) to issue special permits for the boats to operate as passenger vessels during Butanding season, and licenses for the boat captains and mechanics.

Avisado was also awarded a substancial amount for his proposed Firefly Watching and River Cruise Services where he hopes to replicate the experience of cruising and dining along Loboc river.

Allan Amanse received 10 BIO kits composed of booties, shorts and jackets and was roundly applauded by BIO members.

Ma. Theresa Bernaser and Allan Amanse were awarded individual grants to pursue their entrepreneurship thru handicrafts and souvenir items.

Bernaser added, “Donsol is very fortunate to have been chosen as the pilot area for Turismo Mismo!. Rest assured that you can count on us to spread and share the seed of hope for a better life which you planted here in Donsol.”

Prior to the launch, more than 200 residents composed of boatmen, members of BBOA & BIO,  mangrove fisherfolk and other tourism frontliners underwent a series of workshops to enhance their skills and capability in handling tourism products and services. Modules included the Value of Tourism, The Culture of Excellence, Disaster Management, Emergency Response, and Sanitation.

Turismo Mismo! shows the people of Donsol the importance of sustainable tourism as the avenue for progress to the future.  Since nature has provided Donsol with both boon and bane in its shifting seasons, the people have to cope.  The only constant and unchanging value which the people hold is what they have in themselves -- the friendly, warm, and hospitable spirit that the Donsoleños have, typhoon or no typhoon.

As sustainable eco-tourism is thus the future for Donsol, the DoT through the Turismo Mismo! program and its program partners, e.g., Department of Trade & Industry, Department of Health, DENR, Marina, the provincial government of Sorsogon & its disaster coordinating council, the municipal government of Donsol, Cottage Industry Technology Center, Philippine Trade & Training Center, the Design Center of the Philippines, the Technological Resource Center, Smart Communications, Philhealth, Mercury Drug, andPhiltranco, continuously supports the area, with the final aim of making the Municipality a shining example of what the people, with proper government and private sector support, can achieve.

The good news spreads

Bringing the good news about tourism to other parts of the country, Durano has also awarded several grants to Cebu, Bohol, Negros,Siargao and Butuan.  Taal and Pagsanjan are next.

As the good news of tourism spreads and successfully converts more destroyers into being protectors of the environment, it is hoped that the Nature + Nurture advocacy campaign for sustainable ecotourism proves that there is indeed a better way to a better life. Our battlecry,“Sagot sa Kahirapan --- Turismo Mismo!”

1. Butanding pic from Jonathan Bird c/o Allan Amanse

2. Some paragraphs were written by Leo Tanseco