Our tourism woes

THE Senate hearings on the habitual inefficiency bordering on consumer abuse of our big air transport carriers, varying only in degrees but with all three vexing and stressing the public, brings to focus the many woes that afflict Philippine tourism, whether foreign inbound or our own domestic travelers.

So many times have I and my family been stressed out in airports due to interminable delays and flight cancellations, going to and from Mindanao or the Visayas, and end up just bearing it with nary a grin, simply because we have no choice.

The highest visitor arrivals we had was prepandemic 2019, when we were still quite friendly with China.

Along with South Koreans who have made our country an escape from their dreadfully cold winters, the two countries accounted for a full third of our visitors.

When the DOT or Bureau of Immigration count the North American market as comprising 15 percent of our visitors, don’t think the “whites” flock to our shores in increased numbers.

Fil-Ams or Can-Ams who have changed citizenship and “green card” holders comprise the bulk, almost 85 percent of those visitors.

Let’s look at the real challenges the country faces as an air travel destination, the most difficult of which is that we are a multitude of islands floating in the Pacific, unlike our tourist-drenched Asean neighbors in IndoChina, which share land borders, making a visitor to say, Singapore or Thailand, accessible affordably to Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia, and even Laos.

All other things being equal, we are closer by air to Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, and of course, China.

That also explains why Filipinos are one of their biggest markets for inbound visitors, because it only takes us four hours at most to visit these countries where the climate is cooler and the shopping is “glorious.”

Hongkong, Macau and Taiwan have become weekend destinations, while Japan and South Korea a bit longer, from five days to a week for Filipinos who have been bitten by the travel bug. Which is why promoting our country beyond Manila, Boracay, Cebu and Palawan should be more important to us than marketing the country in say London or Paris. No matter how we try, we will not be as successful as Thailand or the rest of the IndoChinese peninsula in attracting Europeans. Also, but for their ultra-rich, European tourists spend much less than Asian travelers.

Our old churches and Intramuros may be quaint enough to Japanese or Chinese tourists, enough for a brief look-see, but they cannot possibly compare to what Europe has by way of cultural and religious relics.

So, let’s be practical. Spend our marketing dollars in low-hanging fruits. The least marginal utility with nary a marginal return, for instance, can be found in a recent country-branding misadventure, such as draping London buses with “We give the world our best” featuring our nurses toiling in foreign lands.

While yes, that was not supposed to be a tourist promotional tactic, but neither does it give our country brand a plus, because our nurses, our engineers, our skilled manpower are needed by demographically-challenged countries, and we need not advertise to send more of our OFWs.

Add to our promotional confusion is the penchant of changing our marketing slogans or taglines whenever there is a change in administration.

From Joe Aspiras’ highly successful “Where Asia wears a smile” to the sun and sea focused approaches, to Gemma Cruz-Araneta’s “Rediscover Philippines” to Dick Gordon’s “Wow Philippines!” to Mon Jimenez’ “It’s more fun…”, now DOT is reportedly coming out with a “new, improved” tagline (recall how Procter and Gamble sold and re-sold the same Tide laundry powder?).

Yet through all those 50 years or more, “Amazing Thailand” and “Malaysia, Truly Asia” have wowed 40 or more million visitors each year compared to our 1.2, then 1.8, then 4, then 5, then 6, then 8.2 millions achieved from Aspiras to Puyat, the 8.2 largely due to the “friendly” mainland Chinese now not as friendly.

To put it simply, it is a supply and demand situation, where demand far outstrips supply, and

MAEBASHI, Japan—Yuya Motomura, a mahjong parlor manager in Japan, had always wanted a way to prove himself to a society he felt looked down on him. Then Russia invaded Ukraine.

The 45-year-old is one of a handful of Japanese men who have joined Ukrainians battling the Russian invasion, defying their government’s warnings and bucking a decades-long national principle of pacifism.

Japan’s military is constitutionally limited to defense and has not fought since World War II.

Still, Motomura said he was immediately captivated by the idea of fighting in Ukraine when he saw President Volodymyr Zelensky talking about “defending our independence, our country.”

“I’ve always felt that I’m someone who is more socially conscious than other people realize,” he told AFP as he prepared to leave Japan for the conflict.

“By fighting for Ukraine, I could prove it with more than just words.”

Motomura took a first trip to Ukraine just two months after Russia’s invasion, initially carrying supplies for refugees and