Richard Gordon on tourism:‘We’ve been sleeping the last 30 years’

RICHARD Gordon is running up and about, doing

everything to wake up the sleeping giant that

is Philippine tourism.

It’s a role that is tailor fit for Gordon, everyone’s

favorite Boy Scout. During his first days in office, he

picked up litter in the streets, setting an example that

tourism starts with cleanliness. Little acts like picking

up litter have transformed Subic into a showcase of

Filipino resilience and vision and Olongapo into the

clean and well-run city it is now. It is hoped he will

infuse some of the magic he has done for Subic and

Olongapo into tourism

Gordon, the braggart that he is, wants to do more than that. He does not

want only to improve tourism, he wants to foster a "culture of tourism."

Why did you accept the DOT post?

I vowed never to accept an appointed position. I never did like appointed

positions. I thought, in this country, appointed officials are subject to all kinds

of vicissitudes, all the slings and arrows of men and women who may not

appreciate the whole picture all the time … Government is like a whole

movie. You have to wait until it is finished. If one is sincere, one knows where

he’s going . . . [But] the President was the one who called. Actually, it’s

Secretary De Villa who called me for the President. I didn’t say yes right

away.

What made you accept?

I was prepared to give the President conditions. Tourism has always been run

by people with different strengths and agendas. In the past, all the department

heads were appointed by the President. And if it’s a political president, like in

the case of the past administration, he would have you as tourism secretary

and he would have somebody else at the PTA. This guy would report directly

to the President and you’re riding a chariot of five horses. One goes to the

left, one goes to the right, one moves forward and backward, and one is

prancing up and down. No wonder you have two million tourists only. There

was no effort to try and get the whole tourism show off to the world. Tourism

is a show-off job. It’s a country that says come to our shores, look at our

discipline, look at our sights - not just what God gave us but what we can do

about it.

What is your vision of tourism now?

Tourism is a way by which the Filipinos have a chance to show their country

off, to respect their heritage, to be able to redefine themselves, show their

environment, show their discipline. Isn’t that what we do during fiestas? Our

old folks, during fiestas especially, have a big parade all over town. We show

the accomplishments and traditions of the town. Parada ng mga kalabaw, ng

mga lechon, ng mga buntis. Isn’t that what it is? Aren’t we proud that people

come to our homes and we clean up our home. We put out our best table.

Sounds like a lot of work. What are you concrete plans for the country’s

tourism? What do you want to focus on? What do we need first?

There are three things in tourism. No. 1 is promotion. You can’t promote

without a product that’s why you say it’s hard. We have to do it. How can

you promote when the product isn’t there? You can have the sights. I hear

people say, "Mas maganda naman ang Boracay kaysa sa Bali. Mas maganda

ang Palawan kaysa Bali."

Totoo ‘yun.

Totoo ‘yun. Kung totoo ‘yun, bakit walang taong pumupunta dito at mas

marami sa Bali? Analyze it. Ah, we’re not promoting.

You haven’t been there long but what have been done so far about

promoting and cleaning?

I’m glad you see the sense of urgency. We’ve gone to Berlin, which is the

biggest mother of all tourism fairs. International Travel Host, they call it.

Huge. Siguro, as big as Ayala Avenue, from Paseo de Roxas to the corner of

Forbes. And there are just booths and booths.

And we had a booth?

Yes. By the way, we won. And I wasn’t even happy with that booth.

Who do you consider as consumers?

Anybody. That’s why it’s there. Fifteen million Germans travel so they go.

It’s a chance to see. They go to the Thai booth and they have Thai food. I ate

in that restaurant pero hindi ko pinapakita na kumakain ako doon. I ate out of

a Styrofoam box and hid inside the closet. The Thai had massage, masseuses.

What did we have?

San Miguel Beer and dried mangoes. And we had energy, lots of it . . . Our

group had very high morale because the tourism secretary stayed with them

from morning till evening. I didn’t go sightseeing. I kept talking to people. I

was asked: "Where’s your promotion?" "How much is your budget?" "Are

we putting something on television?" "Are you going to fund our next tourism

package, which means we’re gonna put you in our magazine? You’re gonna

have to give us videos and money because we’re gonna go from this area to

this area. We’re gonna put the Philippines there."

You think tourism will alleviate poverty? How will it do that?

Jobs, business, education. Spain for a while was poor. They had 38 million

tourists, last year probably even more. Portugal before had their overseas

people, but now they’re banking on tourism. Vietnam is a stallion running

rampant. They’re gonna overtake us if we don’t watch it. But look at us. God

should get mad at our country. We depleted all our resources. We cut our

forests. . . That’s why I was so hard on people who cut trees in Subic. We

had the No. 1 airline in Asia. Hindi ba tayo nagugulat, we used to shop in

Hong Kong! Now we’re the maids. We used to shop in Singapore, now

we’re the maids. The Taiwanese used to hide here. What more do I have to

say?

Tell us what you’re going to do.

It takes a total country plan to have a culture of tourism. The guys who will

benefit from tourism will be the guys who have airports. You can have a

Frankfurt-Palawan flight. If they have an airport, boom! Davao has an

airport, they have a nice hotel, Marco Polo, boom! . . .

But what will all your efforts come to when you have all these problems like

kidnapping, law and order, traffic and the bad roads?

I said the same thing in Japan. Last week I was there. Nakakaawa tayo pero

I still keep a straight face. I was having lunch with a Japanese guy. By the

way, the Japanese have homeless in their parks . . . people who have given

up. Ang dami sa Osaka, Tokyo… I said, "Sir, we have kidnappings, but

nobody was killed. In Egypt 56 people were killed, and they still go to Egypt.

. . That is not an issue. It will go away if you have good PR.

The problem would be if another DOT chief comes in.

Wala na tayong magagawa doon. You try to do as much as you can in your

watch... When you go and take a look at Intramuros later, meron ulit

dalawang kalye doon na magmumukhang St. Williamsburg.

Have you talked with your counterparts in other departments, because

tourism is concerted effort?

We are doing that. Why do you think the DPWH and the Naia cooperate

with us? We’re going to start cleaning up the airport. DOTC is helping us.

‘Yung overpass from the airport, we’re working on that. Ginagawa namin

‘yan. That’s going to be a lot of money.

From where?

From the airport labas ka na ng Makati. Flyover. Meron pang kailangan.

From the Naia to the domestic airport, dapat may people mover. Saan natin

kukunin ang pera? Bumabaha din doon.

Which tourism program impressed you most and inspires you?

England. Replete with history yan eh. Lamang sila because they are in a

ontinent kaya maraming tourists doon, 75 million. They can easily drive

down there. Europe is still the most popular destination in the world. You can

take the train, bus or bicycle and see Europe all the way, from corner to

corner. But basically that’s because of their history and all that. I haven’t

looked into their tourism program. Malaysia has a paradigm prime minister of

tourism right now. But in terms of spunk, Singapore. Wala namang sights sa

Singapore eh. It’s a small city, no domestic destination, but it’s making

money. Don’t think for one minute th