Going to Tacloban? Be a tourist and volunteer

UN Humanitarian chief Valerie Amos, center, talks to the media during her visit to typhoon-ravaged Tacloban city on Feb. 26, 2014. Spending by international humanitarian agencies and “disaster tourists” is helping this city get back on its feet not only through donations and volunteer work, but also by just simply coming here. AP PHOTO/BULLIT MARQUEZ

TACLOBAN CITY, Philippines—An outpouring of sympathy in the wake of Super Typhoon Yolanda (international name: Haiyan) has sparked an enterprise called “voluntourism.”

Spending by international humanitarian agencies and “disaster tourists” is helping this city get back on its feet not only through donations and volunteer work, but also by just simply coming here.

Flights to the city are usually full and the streets are crowded with rental cars bearing the names of numerous humanitarian groups that have trooped there after Yolanda struck on Nov. 8, 2013.

“We have never had this much people from different countries coming in,” Tacloban City Vice Mayor Jerry Yaokasin said. “They are donating and at the same time, they are helping.”

The overflow of people wanting to either help or see the extent of the damage in the city has even prompted the regional tourism office, working with a local travel company, to start the voluntourism program.

The program offers tour packages that include a city tour and visits to tourist attractions in nearby municipalities, as well as opportunities to do volunteer work.

“We came up with the idea of harnessing the spirit of volunteerism from people so that when they come here, they will not only volunteer but they will also be able to enjoy the sights and attractions of our city and nearby municipalities,” said Antonio Cinco Jr., a consultant of the regional tourism office.

Fully booked

Hotels are always fully booked, with some of these humanitarian agencies reserving several rooms for months.

“The hotel industry here is the first industry that helped revive the economy of Tacloban,” said businessman Oliver Cam, who owns Welcome Home Pensione.

Of the 50 hotels in the city, 25 have reopened, with two new hotels “forced” to open earlier than scheduled just to meet the demand.

Getting a room without prior reservation is difficult and some hotels have also increased prices by 30 percent.

The storm damaged most of the 108 rooms at Leyte Park Resort Hotel but the place never closed. After some repairs, 73 rooms are now available.

“Most of our guests are from international humanitarian agencies,” said hotel operation manager Kester Cinco.

The regional tourism chief, Karen Tiopes, said about 60 percent of the 902 currently available rooms in the city was occupied by foreigners.

“They bring in money and, of course, they help our people,” Tiopes said. “It really helps a lot.”

Disaster tourists

The presence of these international groups also benefits other business.

Restaurants have reopened. Tricycles, jeepneys and multicabs are keeping streets busy. Stores are running out of souvenir shirts that express well wishes to the city.

Rhoel Ladera, who owns a printing shop, said the influx of aid workers was helping keep his business alive. These groups have been ordering tarpaulins as part of information dissemination about their rehabilitation work.

“We have humanitarian agencies coming and in the process of doing their work, they get to know us, our culture, our way of life, how resilient we are—they get to know us as a people and that’s still tourism,” Tiopes said.

Curious Filipinos wanting to see the extent of the damage are also helping revive the city’s tourism industry.

These “disaster tourists,” as Cam calls them, usually troop to Anibong Bay to take photos in front of ships that were washed ashore during the storm.

In the process, many of these tourists also express the desire to help, Cinco said.

“One sure way to harness this outpouring of goodwill is through voluntourism—the intersection of volunteering and tourism,” says a brochure prepared for the program, which offers three-day, four-day and five-day group tours.

Survival training

Tiopes said the program would also include some training on basic survival skills—lessons that people of the city learned from surviving the typhoon.

Balikbayans have also been coming back to the city.

Edith Bien, 72, who works as a nurse in New Jersey, came back last week to visit her relatives.

“This is my hometown, so I wanted to see firsthand the damages and see how my town is doing,” said Bien, who was with her sisters and nephews at Anibong Bay. She was taking photos that she could show to her friends in the United States who have been sending donations to areas affected by Yolanda.

Tacloban had been experiencing a steady growth in tourism before the typhoon, largely because of the convention centers.

But with most of these facilities damaged, the city is turning to international agencies, local volunteers and tourists to help tourism, and the city, recover.

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