WTO exec bullish on RP tourism

Placing his credibility on the line, a ranking official of the World Tourism Organization (WTO) predicted yesterday that the country’s tourism industry would wake up from slumber and lure foreigners to visit the country in the next three months.

However, the European Union issued a different prediction ,saying investments in the Philippines would continue to go down due to the due to nagging problems on security and peace and order.

Dr. H. Varma, WTO regional representative for Asia and the Pacific, said he sees "potential" in the Philippines and predicted that the country would recover from its present crisis in 90 days.

"The Philippines can do it in three months if the people concerned have the political will and commitment to implement effective strategies," he said after assessing the country’s tourism situation.

The WTO is an inter-governmental organization that serves as a global forum for tourism policies and issues. Its members include some 139 countries and territories as well as over 350 affiliates from the private and public sectors.

Varma said the Philippines has "high-quality tourism products, attractions of international merit, infrastructure and above all, a very warm and hospitable people."

"There is so much pessimism about Philippine tourism but this country can do much better. It deserves more than what it is taking right now," he pointed out.

But Varma said at this point, the Philippine tourism industry is particularly lacking in marketing and promotion efforts. He urged the Department of Tourism to take up image-correcting steps and project the country as a safe tourist destination.

"The Philippines has to act now. This is a wake-up call for the industry’s deep slumber," he said, stressing the need for the Philippine government to undertake programs to negate the rapidly dropping international tourist arrivals.

With the implementation of appropriate policies, Varma said the Philippines can even double its projected tourist arrivals of five million by year 2005 and 11 million by 2012.

On the other hand, if the government fails to improve the current situation, the Philippines will have tourist arrivals far less than countries like Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia and Mongolia.

To improve the present situation, Varma recommended that the Philippines prevent isolated cases of kidnappings "to cast permanent shadows" on its tourism industry.

"The Philippine tourism industry is so fragile and vulnerable at this time. Just one incident of kidnapping could bring it down so concrete actions must be done," he explained.

As this developed, the European Union (EU) said a decline of investor confidence is expected to happen as the Philippines takes a long time to assure foreign traders of a stable and secure environment for business.

Speaking at the turnover of the EU presidency from Sweden to Belgium, Belgian Ambassador Roland Van Remoortel said European countries are encouraging the Philippines to work on its security situation so as to bring back investor confidence.

He said the recent kidnapping incidents, particularly those perpetrated by the extremist group Abu Sayyaf, were too traumatic for foreign victims.

He predicted that the Philippines would surely have a hard time recovering from the impact of rising criminality.

The EU is one of the Philippines’ biggest business partners, with

trade amounting to 13.1 billion euros (roughly P588.4 billion) a year. It is also the second largest export market for Philippine goods. Last year, European countries bought a total of 4.4 billion (about P197.63 billion) euros worth of Philippine-made products.

On top of these, the EU is also the largest source of bank credit for the Philippines, surpassing the United States by some eight billion euros (about P359.3 billion) last year and accounting for more than half of the country’s outstanding credit. It is also the country’s largest source of development aid grants.

‘Things to get better’

Meanwhile, Malacañang said yesterday that "things would be looking up" by the time President Arroyo delivers her first state of the nation address (SONA) during the opening of the 12th Congress on July 23.

Presidential Spokesman Rigoberto Tiglao said they expect the economy to greatly improve as the political scene gets back to normal with the installation into office of newly elected government officials. He also expressed optimism that the hostage crisis in Basilan would also be resolved soon and the peso would stabilize.

"The President is very confident that things would be looking much, much better. The series of crises appears to ending," he said.

Mrs. Arroyo, according to Tiglao, is finalizing her administration’s legislative agenda, or the list of measures she wants to be made into law, which she will present to the 12th Congress.

"Her legislative agenda will include bills that seek economic and structural reforms," Tiglao said.

Militant groups, though, are gearing up to launch a general strike in time for the President’s SONA.

The Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU), Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) and the Pinag-isang Samahan ng mga Tsuper at Operaytor Nationwide (Piston) vowed to mobilize over 50,000 men for a "welgang bayan" or people’s strike.

Leaders of the three groups said they would protest the what seemed to be a regular increase in oil prices and the government’s alleged apathy to the plight of workers.

"By refusing to stop oil companies from continuously terrorizing the people with oil price hikes, the Arroyo administration is guilty of economic sabotage," said KMU spokesman Sammy Malunes. – With Marichu Villanueva