Lawmakers prodded to pass proposed Tourism Act

Lawmakers are being urged to pass the proposed Tourism Act to solve the government’s organizational problems in developing the country’s tourism industry and the financial difficulties in promoting the Philippines to the global market.

The bill is being supported by a vast majority of the tourism industry, according to Jose Clemente III, president of the Philippine Travel Agencies Association (PTAA).

Representing the PTAA in the committee hearings of both chambers of Congress, Clemente said the bill was encompassing enough to serve as the magna carta for tourism.

"First and foremost, the bill strengthens the Department of Tourism (DOT) structurally, rationalizes its offices and operations, brings in investments through the proposed Tourism Enterprise Zone Authority, and sets policies and standards for all tourism establishments," Clemente said.

Pointing out the current problem with the lack of uniform standards of local government units (LGUs) for tourism enterprises, Clemente said, "At present, for example, any Tom, Dick and Harry can just put up a travel agency in one locality and then close shop the following day."

"Not that the LGUs want this to happen, but their lack of training and know-how can give way to such fly-by-night operations and trade malpractice that destroy the reputation of the entire tourism industry," she said.

Clemente added: "To solve this problem, the tourism bill empowers the DOT and provides the mechanism for the proper training of LGUs, which will continue to administer the licensing requirements of tourism enterprises."

The bill seeks to consolidate all the regulatory powers and functions directly under the DOT and its regional offices in close coordination with LGUs, and create Tourism Philippines as the DOT’s sole attached agency to formulate and implement all the marketing and development efforts being conducted by the Philippine Convention and Visitors Corp. (PCVC) and the promotions departments of the DOT and the Philippine Tourism Authority (PTA).

It also seeks to establish a Tourism Enterprise Zone Authority to develop tourism zones and bring in investments, replace the PTA with a self-sustaining Philippine Tourism Assets Corp. to manage PTA-run enterprises, and empower the tourism secretary as concurrent chairman of the Civil Aviation Board to open up new routes for tourists through direct flights from their countries of origin.

To financially empower Tourism Philippines, a Tourism Promotion and Development Fund shall be created to receive proceeds from investment earnings, travel taxes, the 50 percent net income of Duty Free Philippines, and 25 percent of the net income of the Philippine Amusements and Gaming Corp. and the country’s international airports and seaports.

The fund shall also receive a portion of the accommodation bills paid by tourists, and the annual appropriation of P500 million for five years representing the budget formerly allocated to the DOT’s bureaus for domestic and international tourism promotions.

This streamlining of the DOT’s structure and operations is designed to make its component agencies highly focused, competently specialized and far more effective and efficient to make Philippine tourism globally competitive.

"So far, the only contentious issue is the proposed room tax, which should not exceed $5 (P250) per room but is feared to raise hotel rates," Clemente said.

"But our latest deliberations on the matter are of the consensus to scale it down to $3 for the big hotels and $2 for the smaller ones. Still that amount, which will be used for tourism promotion, will return to them in the form of higher occupancy rates or business volume," she said.

The travel industry is supporting the bill since tourism accounts for almost a quarter of the nation’s workforce, 13 percent of value added to the national economy, 10 percent of total domestic private consumption, and $2 billion of the country’s dollar reserves.

Yet, the $2 billion is just a drop in the bucket compared with $623 billion being generated from the world’s 763 million international tourist arrivals.