Tour, travel operators oppose ‘open skies’

The country’s travel and tour operators have rallied behind the campaign to reject open skies, stressing that the government has to protect the local aviation and tourism industry.

The operators, who belong to the Network of Independent Travel Agencies (NITAS), the largest travel organization with 13 chapters nationwide, held their 2nd general membership meeting at the Grand Boulevard Hotel in Malate, Manila, last Thursday.

During the well-attended meeting, the operators supported the advocacy of the Save Our Skies (SOS) movement, which is pushing for gradual, phase-by-phase liberalization of air policy.

"The collapse of the local aviation industry as a result of misguided air policies will also dislocate airline-dependent sectors like ours," the operators said.

In his speech, Robert Lim Joseph, NITAS president, said he was vindicated when leaders of the Freedom to Fly Coalition (FFC) were unmasked in the Senate as lobbyists for foreign interests in the aviation industry. Joseph is also the president of SOS, a non-governmental organization promoting the protection of the local aviation and tourism industry.

"I have long warned the government that the FFC and its leaders are lobbying for foreign interests in the aviation industry and open skies but this was ignored. Fortunately, the Senate was able to unmask them for what they are," Joseph said.

The FFC’s links to foreign interests were discovered during the recent Senate hearing on AGILE (Accelerating Growth, Investment and Liberalization with Equity) when FFC president Mila Abad, under intense questioning, admitted that FFC officials have received "consultancy fees" from AGILE.

AGILE internal documents obtained by the Senate also confirmed the lobbying efforts of FFC on behalf of the US government, particularly in its open skies campaign. The documents identified Abad as the leader of the air transport team lobbying for open skies.

"Sinisiraan ako ng FFC dahil alam nilang ako ang unang nagbunyag sa kanila," Joseph said.

"We should not allow our local industries to be controlled by foreigners that’s why we have to protect our own," Joseph said as he vowed to keep foreign businessmen from dominating travel agencies.

He said adopting open skies is not the answer to declining tourism but enhancing peace and order and security of tourists.