Why tourists skip the Philippines

In one of my travels, an Australian friend asked me what it is that he will see if he ever decides to visit the Philippines.

I came up with various possible destinations in my head, but before I could give him a rundown of possible must-see attractions, he had already waved his hand dismissively, saying that it was just a hypothetical question and that he has no plans of visiting the country whatsoever.

Now before I get accused of being a bad ambassador of my country, I must make it clear that I tried to give him options like Boracay, Siargao, Bohol, and Palawan , and I asked him why he won’t consider them. Again, he dismissed the question, stressing that if he would give me reasons why, then he would end up explaining well into the morning. He’d rather not waste a beautiful evening and a beach party that was just about to start.

I’m sure that there are a lot of other Australians who would love to visit the Philippines, but this episode really got me thinking why most travelers end up skipping the country, even when they are already touring Asia.

Now the government would argue that this is not true and that Philippine tourism is in fact about to fly. They might even parade documents showing the 3.52 million foreign tourists who supposedly visited the country in 2010. This number, is such a fantastic achievement for government officials, that they started patting each other’s back.

I really don’t want to burst their bubbles, but hey guys, 3.52 million is a far cry from the tourist arrivals of other countries, and what makes it so depressing is that the Philippines has so much more to offer.

Just so they know, in 2010 alone, Hong Kong said 36 million tourists arrived in its territory, while Malaysia reported 24 million tourists with $53.4 million tourism receipts. Thailand, despite prolonged political tension, managed to attract 15.6 million tourists.

Singapore, attracted 12.5 million. Indonesia’s tourist arrivals reached 7.002 million with tourism receipts amounting to $7.6 billion while Vietnam attracted 5 million tourists.

Now, I may not be a tourism genius but I think that by looking at these figures, you can surmise that 3.52 million is just too low and that, despite the government’s parade, there are obviously reasons why, in spite of all the marketing campaigns we do, the tourists remain uninterested.

To be fair, East Asian countries like South Korea and Japan are interested, reflected by the fact that they are the Philippines’ top two sources of visitors. However, there are even reports and insinuations that they are not visiting as travelers, but as English students and wife-hunters.

I don’t want to be someone who just keeps on complaining without doing something, so I embarked on an informal tourism survey among travelers and tourists from why or why not they are interested in visiting the Philippines. I wanted to get the perspective of actual travelers not the sanitized excuses of the local travel and trade leaders.

I asked if they heard about the Philippines (scary), and if yes, were they interested to visit it? why or why not? I sent these questions to my Facebook friends from Germany, Austria, Netherlands, Canada, US , Indonesia eand I also created a forum in my Lonely Planet page, which received 200 views and 25 replies in one day.

Our tourism geniuses who crafted the “Pilipinas Kay Ganda” campaign may just totally ignore it, but what the heck, I’m still giving it a try.

“It’s Like America”

Apparently, in the eyes of foreigners, the unique style, culture and identity of the Philippines and its people are fading what with their best attempts at sounding, looking and feeling American. Unique Filipino architecture is just lost in the flurry of tall buildings, Starbucks, and shopping malls in its capital city Manila. They smoke Marlboro, they wear Gap and Guess and now Zara (Spanish), and they try to hard to get that American accent. “It’s funny, other Asians are not trying to sound American at all. The only thing that they are not trying to copy from America is cleanliness,” says one comment.

“Want a wife? Go to the Philippines”

Now this will really hurt. Though we try to deny it, chances are, few will listen to us, because for many travelers (especially among young Westerners), the Philippines is a retirement haven for old geezers who want to find themselves toys for the night, or in many cases, a wife. This very negative image turns away young travelers who are out for adventure sports and trekking. They feel that they will also be targeted.

To be fair, I think many Filipinas are up to the task. Once in an internet cafe, I saw two women talking and flirting to a Caucasian guy, old enough to be their grand dad.

In Boracay, can you honestly tell me that you haven’t seen an old foreigner with a young Filipina in tow? No more explanation needed.

Here’s a direct quote from an Austrian Lonely Planet member. “I think it has a bit of an unfortunate reputation as being more a place for sleazy old ex-service personnel, sex tourists and wife hunters,”

“Imperial Manila”

Listen tourism officials. Here’s a very valid question.

In this age of budget travels, easier connections and too many options, why do travelers have to pass by to Manila, in order to travel to more touristy areas such as Boracay, Palawan and Bohol. In the case of Bohol, you even have to travel to Cebu first before taking a ferry.

This seeming lack of flight options to the supposedly famous tourist attractions, is just a deal breaker. Instead of spending additional money on a connecting flight, travelers would rather use that to go to another country.

And if you insist that they should also visit Manila, well, they are not that interested because as they said, it’s just like America.  Another Lonely Planet member said that “My biggest gripe about the Philippines is that all the best islands are located somewhere else and you need to take another internal flight from Manila, which I am not too keen to go in the first place.

“Drab food”

I am such a fan of Filipino food so this came as a surprise. One traveler asked me if I see a lot of Filipino restaurants abroad. He asked if I can honestly say that Filipino food is as famous as that of Chinese, Thai, Viet or Japanese. I didn’t answer, but you can.

He says no, because Filipino food are not as tasty. Local cuisines are either salty or sweet and sweet foods are not exactly come ones to travelers, unless they are for dessert. It reminded me of an Ecuadorian CEO who now lives in the Philippines who complained of his sweet spaghetti.

Expensive but shabby hotels

Unless you stay in the really expensive five-star hotels, travelers say that you will have to contend with the shabby and not so clean hotels in the Philippines. What’s ironic is that hotel prices in the country are really expensive compared to other Asian countries. This I can attest having stayed at hotels in countries Bangkok, Cambodia, Bali and Hong Kong.

One traveler said, “Filipinos want to earn so much quickly by charging expensive rent, without thinking that they place is not all that great”

Guys, these are just comments from actual travelers so please bear with me if they sound snappy and honest. I didn’t want to sugarcoat them because it will defeat the purpose of why this informal survey was done in the first place.

I don’t agree with all of the comments above but I agree with some.

Why do you think tourists skip the Philippines”