Travel industry stresses need for airport modernization throughout PHL

There is an immediate need to modernize the country's airports to boost tourism to the Philippines, according to an association of travel agencies.

Aileen Clemente, past president of the Philippine Travel Agencies Association, said in a press briefing that a tourist's experience of a country begins at the airport, and, she said, "First impressions last."

Clemente said that airports is one of the elements comprising tourism.

"Tourism is not all about just visiting a beach, for example. Tourism is a whole package experience starting in the airport, transport to hotel, accommodation, and others. If one of these aspects fails, it would surely affect a tourist's decision to repeat visiting the country in the future," she said.

Clemente added that there is an ongoing study among industry stakeholders, including government agencies and the private sector, to modernize airports in every region, not just the major cities.

Citing the National Tourism Development Plan, Clemente also said that it would take at least three years to fix the major problems affecting the tourism industry—including the need to build more hotels and lodging houses. The planned 23,000 rooms to be opened in 2013 would not be enough to accommodate the increasing tourist arrivals, she said.

"It is one of the reasons the Philippines is lagging behind its ASEAN neighbors," Clemente said.
 
But she expressed optimism that the country "has enough room to grow," even though the number of Chinese tourists to the country has declined in the aftermath of the West Philippine Sea territorial dispute between the two countries. The 2010 hostage crisis that claimed the lives of several tourists from Hong Kong also adversely affected the number of Chinese visitors to the Philippines.
 
According to Clemente, the latest data from the Department of Tourism shows that the US, Japan and South Korea are the top three sources of foreign arrivals to the Philippines. — BM, GMA News

Sourced: gmanetwork