Tags: Tourism
By Alexander Villafania
MANILA CITY, METRO MANILA – The tragic hostage drama at the Quirino Grandstand will have dire effects on the country’s tourism in industry in the short term especially since those involved were foreign tourists, according to an industry executive.
In an emailed response to loqal.ph, Cesar Cruz, president of the Philippine Tour Operators Association (PHILTOA) said they are expecting immediate cancellations of tour bookings from Hong Kong and other regional markets. This is also due to the issuance of an outbound travel alert by the Hong Kong government against the Philippines.
“We can now feel the immediate impact as this is the season for holidays in most of our regional market like Hongkong, Japan, China and Korea. What we should do is to save the forward bookings from November 2010 to March 2011,” Cruz said.
Hong Kong is among the prime East Asian tourist targets for the Philippines’ tourism industry. A report by the Department of Tourism stated that in the first five months of 2010, there were 33,395 Hong Kong tourists that arrived in the Philippines.
During the same period, there are already 3.65 million foreign tourists that arrived in the country, 100,000 more than in the previous year.
Nevertheless, Cruz said the tourism industry in the Philippines can still be saved, provided the government, especially the Tourism department, is able to manage the situation.
“It (hostage taking) has happened and no excuses can be offered to justify the result of the incident. Sincere apologies and proper handling of authorities concerned on the aftermath of the incident is the most that we can do,” Cruz said.
He also hoped that with changes in the global information dissemination process, the limelight will be diverted away from the recent hostage taking in the Philippines to another incident somewhere else.
Cruz also stressed the need to enforce Republic Act 9593 or the National Tourism Policy Act of 2009.
“With the Philippine Tourism Promotions Board, fast proper action to avert the negative effect on the industry would have been its responsibility. This is where, with proper funding, immediate public relations and pro active campaign could have been immediately initiated,” Cruz said.
The Philippine National Police has been criticized because of the way it handled the incident, which left eight Hong Kong tourists dead along with the hostage-taker, a former police officer. Critics have also been hurled at local media for its coverage of the standoff, which made headlines worldwide.
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…if they think that we are unggoy at binab2 nila tayo ng masasa mang commnto dahil sa nangyari then fine but the important is, we filipinos are not lke that as what the think for as….and we are loving people..
e pag pray nlang ntn kng ano ang nangyari and never to look down our police men because of them there are peace in our country at hindi dapt natin na batohn cla ng masasa mng komnto. marami nman clang na gwa to our safety and to our country….
hindi ba ninyo na isip kng ano ang nangyari noon about melanin contamenation???dba hindi tayo nag react at nintndi paren ntin cla….at nging humble tayo sa kanla kht marami ang n apiktohan.
god said “love ur neighboor as i love u…………kkkkk
!!!!!!!!!!!! hindi tayo unggoy……
we are people lke them……….we are not animals as what they said…we have feelings as what they feel…we are humble people and know how to understand..hindi nman ntin gus2 kng ano ang nangyari…if they think that we are unggoy at binab2 nila tayo ng masasa mang commnto dahil sa nangyari then fine but the important is, we filipinos are not lke that as what the think for as….and we are loving people..
i hope na hindi natin ipakalolo ang sarili nting bansa…
e pag pray nlang ntn kng ano ang nangyari and never to look down our police men because of them there are peace in our country at hindi dapt natin na batohn cla ng masasa mng komnto. marami nman clang na gwa to our safety and to our country….
hindi ba ninyo na isip kng ano ang nangyari noon about melanin contamenation???dba hindi tayo nag react at nintndi paren ntin cla….at nging humble tayo sa kanla kht marami ang n apiktohan.
god said “love ur neighboor as i love u…………
As a part of this country, I am Very disappointed to those people who are doing wrong things w/out thinking the effect of this to the image of our country. our image is is very important to everybody because through this we can improve the state of our country.
the hostage taking leave bad image to our country and brought many effects, specially to our tourism and because of the wrong move of the police cause tragedy.
i hope that it well not happen again coz our life is very important.
and i hope that pres. noynoy will make a move to fix’s this problem and he reforms the police department.
As a resident of the Philippines, I can only echo concerns for all foreigners here. This is NOT Disneyland. People are killed, raped and robbed everyday without one policeman in sight. Tourists carrying large wads of cash are frequently ripped off by crooked money changers. Government department corruption is endemic, bribes are always required to get anything done. One hopes President Aquino will bring in changes, making sweeping reforms to Armed Forces, Police and Government, but some how I doubt it. The Philippines is controlled by about 100 families, and they will not go down without a (dirty) fight.
i just want to let all the chinese to know that not all filipinos are like mendoza…………if you grief too much for the death of your compatriots we also feel the same because of too much anger that we are yielding from different people most specially from chinese….
If you are no longer interested to come or to visit our country then fine we will not force you people to come,
we the filipino’s are very humble among all races…
during the melamine scandal filipinos did not react like an insane people because we understand that there are circumstances happen that we don’t really meant to happen……………we will not apologize for what happen last aug.23 because we know that it would be a waste of time…………….
please don’t blame our government officials… don’t you think n nung umuso ang made in china n laruan, at contamination of melamine… d tayo msyadong ngreact tpos kung apihin tayo ng mga ibang chino akala nila kung cnu cla .. twagin b nman tayong unggoy. Mostly they invested their businesses here in our country. Without us how can they manage their business wlang mageentertain s mga produkto nila dito. kc minsan ang mga pinoy, they are fun of imported goods. dapat nman ating tangkilikin ang sariling atin
please don,t blame our country… don’t you think n nung umuso ang made in china n laruan, at contamination of melamine… d tayo msyadong ngreact tpos kung apihin tayo ng mga ibang chino akala nila kung cnu cla .. twagin b nman tayong unggoy. Mostly they invested their businesses here in our country. Without us how can they manage their business wlang mageentertain s mga produkto nila dito. kc minsan ang mga pinoy, they are fun of imported goods. dapat nman ating tangkilikin ang sariling atin
please don,t blame our country… don,t you think n nung umuso ang made in china n laruan, at contamination of melamine… d tayo msyadong ngreact tpos kung apihin tayo ng mga ibang chino akala nila kung cnu cla … mostly they invested their businesses her in our country. Without us how can they manage their business
.. walang silbi mga pulis…. urong sulong…..
lahat na sisihan… anu paga bang magagawa???
tapos na ang lahat…
crang cra na tayo dahil sa katangahan ng karamihan….
Kaawa naman pangulo natin dami na nga problema sa bansa natin binigyan pa.cguro naman kahit sinu mahalal sa pag ka pangulo mahihirapan dulot sa ginawa ng nakaraan n pangulo.Kahit kailan HAWAk pArin tau ng Ibang Bansa dahil sa mga pnag gagawa natin.
I hate our own country..officials are idiots and useless..
What’s the use of that National Tourism Act blah blah blah? The damage has already been done… and the world eye us with contempt.. We deserve it… Sigaw nang sigaw tayo ng pagbabago eh wala namang nangyayari..!