Senator Gringo Honasan
MANILA, Philippines—Is there more fun in the Philippines when tourists arrive at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), dubbed as The Worst Airport in the World?
More than a slogan, Senator Gringo Honasan said the government should come up with a tourism development program that will truly encourage international travelers to come to the country.
“For me a slogan is reflective of the substance. We’re not selling a slogan. We can encourage tourists—
whatever the slogan is—if we have something substantial to offer,” Honasan said over the phone on Monday.
“What we need is a tourism infrastructure. Pagdating ng turista, saan ba ’yong underground river? Sa Palawan (When a tourist arrives, he asks, ‘Where’s the underground river?’ It is in Palawan). How do I get there? Pero kung walang infrastructure—roads—bale wala ’yong slogan (But if we don’t have the roads, the slogan is useless),” he pointed out.
Honasan said he would support any slogan “as long as it goes beyond the marketing effort” by providing substance and infrastructure in the country’s tourism industry.
The senator warned that the country would face a serious problem when the government fails to meet the expectations of the tourists.
“We should be consistent. If we say it’s more fun in the Philippines and the tourists found out that it’s not fun at all, then we will have a serious problem. We should put our money where our mouth is,” he said.
While he acknowledged that Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez, who came up with the new slogan, is a “creative genius,” Honasan hopes that concerned government agencies can catch up with his “advanced creativity.”
Meanwhile, the chairman of the Senate committee on tourism, Senator Lito Lapid, threw his full support behind the new tourism slogan.
The slogan, Lapid said, “fittingly promotes our country as a top tourism haven in the world.”
“More than the gift of natural beauty that our country possesses, it is our unique sense of hospitality that sets us apart from other tourism destinations in the region and the world, thus making the experience all the more fun in the Philippines than elsewhere,” he said in a statement issued by his office.
“Napatunayan nitong slogan na ito ang talino at kapabilidad ni Secretary Mon Jimenez na noon pa ay alam ko nang tamang mamuno sa Department of Tourism (This slogan validated the talent and capability of Secretary Mon Jimenez, who I had always thought was the right person to head the Department of Tourism),” Lapid added.