MORE UNSOLICITED ADVICE

We have now had a few days to digest, study and examine the events of August 23, 2010 and what it means for the country. Fingers have been pointed, people have been sacked, the Philippines has been pilloried by the people and press of Hong Kong and our President even excoriated for his facial expressions but the fact remains that we have to move on. We cannot continue to linger on the what ifs and what abouts that have flown across the social networking sites, news outlets and simple daily conversations. Let history be the judge of that. It's time to shake off the stupor and get moving.

When something like this happens, tourism will always be one of the first industries that will take a hit. We are so closely tied in to the peace and order situation that sometimes I think that the Philippine National Police or the Armed Forces should come under the Department of Tourism. But then again, I don't think any Secretary of Tourism would wish that on themselves. Naturally, with what happened, Philippine tourism is again at the eye of the storm and we now find ourselves trying to figure out how to resurrect it once more. Lazarus can actually take a lesson from our tourism industry if I may say so.

In keeping with my last post and having some time to think it over, I would like to offer some more unsolicited advice on how we can get started.


1. Have the Department of Tourism come out with an official statement addressing what happened and at the same time, reassuring our major markets that the Philippines is a generally safe and hospitable destination. 

During my time as the president of the Philippine Travel Agencies Association, whenever a situation would arise, one of the first things I did was to get in touch with the DOT to see if they had an official statement on whatever happened so that the Association can immediately liase with its counterpart associations around the globe and give them official information so that they can also disseminate it to their members. We found that this was quite helpful in smoothing out whatever misconceptions or incomplete information our partners abroad may have.

More importantly, the DOT has offices overseas that can effectively distribute the statement to the major wholesalers in their respective markets. This will do a great deal in allaying fears that they may have in the wake of an event like this. The DOT offices are our windows to the world and they can be mobilized to do damage control. 

The same statement can also be sent to our local tour operators and have those companies send it to their individual client agencies so that they have information they can tell their traveling clients.


2. The entire tourism industry, both government and private sector, must embark on an image-building effort to recover lost ground.

One of the fastest ways to recover lost ground is to make offers that people cannot refuse. What would this entail? The easiest way to get people coming back here is the price. In the past, when events would occur that make travelers wary of visiting the country, we have found it quite effective to adjust prices to make it more attractive to come here. I'm not suggesting that fire sale rates should be given but at least something that would make people consider coming. This would mean lower hotel rates, lower transportation rates, lower airfares both international and domestic, special offers by retailers for shopping, reduced rates for tourist attractions and various other ways. The rates would be extended for a limited amount of time that can be agreed upon and can be revisited periodically to see the results.


No image-rebuilding effort will be complete without inviting top travel wholesalers and the media of our main markets to come to the Philippines and to see the situation for themselves. Yes, this will entail a lot of cost and sacrifice mostly for the private sector who will host them but government also has to ante up and show that they mean business when President Aquino gave the mandate for tourism arrivals to double by the end of his term. Invitationals have shown some success in the past and at this time, should prove to be a critical effort in trying to improve the country's image. The best way we can assure people is to show them what the actual situation is. More importantly, no special treatment. Show them the country as they were regular tourists so they can feel normal.


3. In the meantime, let us focus on markets that are not as affected by the events and continue to reassure them that the Philippines is still a desirable place to visit.

No disrespect to Hong Kong or the China market but we must accept that there will be a definite downtrend which may take some time to recover. With sentiments and emotions running high, the Philippines is definitely not a place people from Hong Kong will visit.

In the same breath, that is just one source of arrivals and the Philippines still has other markets to rely on. Let us continue to promote to those markets and even increase efforts in sustaining arrivals from those countries.  There is India, the ASEAN region, the Middle East and other regions where can expect continued influx of tourists.

As the situation improves with Hong Kong and China, we can gradually get back to aggressively promoting there once more.

There are far more smarter people than I in the industry and I'm sure they can offer better suggestions but whatever steps the private sector and the DOT take in regaining lost ground, I hope that they are studied painstakingly, planned properly, coordinated cleanly and the appropriate resources allocated to them. Our margin for error is quite small this time and any wrong move can scar our industry deeply in the years to come.