MANILA, DECEMBER 1, 2010 (STAR) SKETCHES By Ana Marie Pamintuan - Never mind the tourism marketing slogan and website. If the Aquino administration wants to attract more visitors, it should rush to improve the first thing that greets all travelers upon arrival in Manila: the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
Leaving for South Korea before noon the other weekend, I encountered the longest line ever at NAIA Terminal 1's immigration area. It was worse than the weeks after 9/11.
Flying out of Seoul over the weekend through Incheon airport, I didn't notice any additional security, even if Incheon was where the residents evacuated from the island shelled by North Korea had taken refuge.
Self check-in at Incheon took two minutes (it would have been faster if I had been familiar with the machine), and depositing my luggage took another 10, including the wait.
Clearing immigration took five minutes, including waiting in line. At the security check, I wasn't made to take off my shoes or get my laptop out of its case. Then I was free to roam the airport. Like most other airports in Asia, it has many clean lavatories with sufficient toilet paper. The airport has numerous walkalators and drinking stations for adults and children.
A large area offered not just free wi-fi but also free use of about 50 Internet-connected computers.
Upon arrival at the NAIA near midnight, it took me more than half an hour to clear immigration. There were too many arriving passengers, and no one could tell where queues started and ended. People were shouting and asking where they could get arrival cards. It was stuffy; either the air conditioning was weak or there were simply too many people.
At Incheon, Korean Air gave my luggage a red "fragile" tag, just to ensure proper handling. When I retrieved the luggage at the NAIA carousel, the top handle had been severed at one end. I don't know if that was Korean Air or the NAIA handlers.
At least clearing Customs was a breeze. But as I pushed my cart down the sloping arrival ramp outside the NAIA building, I saw that the guards had allowed the crowd to wait right on the street for arriving relatives, blocking the path all the way to the entrance to the parking lot.
After hurdling that obstacle course, I found many people in the crowded parking lot squatting on the curb as they waited for arriving passengers.
Our premier airport reminded me not of any of Asia's modern ports of entry but the chaotic airport in Kabul, Afghanistan. The crowds outside reminded me of a similar scene outside the airport in Peshawar in Pakistan.
For some unfortunate arriving passengers, such experiences are aggravated by being waylaid along C-5 by a robbery syndicate operating with the connivance of some NAIA employees.
Ninoy must be turning over in his grave.
* * *
The Aquino administration is hoping that by November next year, the bigger NAIA Terminal 3 would be fully refurbished and operational, to be used for all international flights except those of Philippine Air Lines. PAL will continue to use Terminal II. The smaller Terminal 1 will be used by the other flag carrier Cebu Pacific.
The government is also hoping to settle soon the complaint of the last European carrier still flying to Manila, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines. The beef is over the common carriers tax – three percent based on gross receipts, which means long-haul flights, with their more expensive tickets, pay a higher tax.
German carrier Lufthansa tried stopping over in Guangzhou in China to bring down its tax when passing through Manila, but this was not cost-effective and the carrier pulled out of the Philippines. KLM is threatening to do the same over the tax described as "only in the Philippines."
Direct flights, being faster and cheaper, are naturally preferred by travelers.
Tourism Secretary Alberto Lim is pushing for a limited open-skies policy, covering only secondary airports, with NAIA excluded. Clark International Airport in Pampanga enjoys this arrangement, and has seen its arrivals increase from 10,000 in 2003 to the current 600,000. Lim noted that open skies for the Indonesian island of Bali contributed to a jump in tourist arrivals from 30,000 to three million. Open skies will also be good for overseas Filipino workers and exporters particularly of high-value, low-volume products such as electronics. The head of one of Manila's top hospitals also said he would promote medical tourism only if the country has an open-skies policy.
In a talk with some STAR editors yesterday, Lim said he wanted to focus on product development. Alejandra "Dading" Clemente, president of the Federation of Tourism Industries of the Philippines, was glad to hear this. She noted that tour operators started marketing the country to travelers 40 years ago, but all the destinations at the time such as Pagsanjan deteriorated.
"Our problem has always been the product," Dading told us.
In 1980, the country was already getting one million arrivals per year. Three decades later, the target is a modest 3.3 million – a 10 percent increase from last year's three million.
The travel industry has long called for better airports. Bertie Lim was happy to report that three of the proposed projects under the PPP or public-private partnership program involved the construction of secondary airports – in Daraga, Albay; Panglao in Bohol, and Puerto Princesa in Palawan. A fourth is for the operation and maintenance of an airport in Cagayan de Oro.
Lim wants to develop historical attractions in Manila, particularly Intramuros, as well as revive Rizal Park, starting with the restoration of the dancing fountain.
He wants to develop the potential of areas such as Samar, where surfing is good and where Ferdinand Magellan landed on Homonhon Island. In 1949, Samar also accepted 5,000 Russian exiles kicked out of their country by the communists, then kicked out of Mao Zedong's China where they first sought refuge. One of the Russians married a Filipina and had a son, Ronald Kookooritchkin, who later became actor Ronald Remy.
Product development, Lim said, includes not only upgrading tourism infrastructure but also keeping visitors safe. Next week he is signing a memorandum of agreement with the Philippine National Police for the creation of TOPCOP, for Tourist-Oriented Police for Community Order and Protection.
Lim has also talked with his Ateneo classmate, Chief Justice Renato Corona, for the creation of a court, open 24 hours a day, that will handle tourist-related complaints.
With an annual marketing budget of only P30 million, Lim does not want to depend too much on marketing to lure travelers.
"What good are all these marketing campaigns," he said, "if the product is lousy?"
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
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