USEC SIMEON MARFORI III (seated in the middle) in a souvenir pose with personnel of the Department of Tourism 8 headed by regional director Karina Rosa Tiopes (seated, 4th from the left).
ORMOC CITY – Tourism undersecretary Simeon P. Marfori II, who was here recently in the city to guest the 1st Eastern Visayas Tourism Officers Convention held at the New Ormoc City Hall, said he is batting for “fruit salad tourism”- his way of describing developing a tourism package that would include a little bit of everything in its array.
Marfori, who said he graduated in the ‘70’s with the big dreams of being the “it” generation that would bring the nation to greatness, said that unfortunately other Asian neighbors have overtaken the Philippines, especially in tourism.
He said the country’s latest statistic shows that it got just around three million visitors in 2009 compared to 22 million in Malaysia and 16 million in Thailand.
This is because Filipinos see tourism through their eyes and not through the eyes of their visitors. He said they would want to see a change in this culture with the so-called “fruit salad” tourism.
Taking Vietnam as an example, he said that a river there attracts about one thousand visitors per day. The river, he added, was not phenomenal but what brings Westerners there is to see two papaya trees growing on its bank. “Two papaya trees only”, he emphasized, and it brings in a thousand visitors.
To the laughter of the tourism officers gathered and some councilors in charge of tourism, he said that Pinoys may laugh at the thought but they should give it a second look.
In the West, he said, people eat papaya for breakfast yet they don’t have these trees growing in their backgrounds. That is the reason why they go in droves to that river in Vietnam “just to see two papaya trees”.
In the Philippines, he said, these visitors will not only see papayas, but mangoes, mangosteen, lanzones and other kinds of fruits. All tourism officers have to do, he said, is “tell a story” and package the destination.
He also urged those present to “get out of the box” and think out of the box. He said the complaints they often hear about tourism from local government units is that they don’t have international airports, they don’t have destinations like other places and they don’t have funds.
He said that if every town in the country would have its own international airports, then there would be more airports that there would be visitors. With regards to “having a destination or a tourist spot”, he reverted to the papaya story saying all they have to do is weave a story. As for lack of funds, he said this is one perennial problem and there will never be enough unless LGU’s take the bull by the horn and exercise political will.
He also congratulated the tourism officers of Eastern Visayas for the effort of bonding together and coordinating with each other. He said this was important to be able to come up with a comprehensive tourism package for tourists which will benefit not only one particular LGU but others as well.
He added that the creation of such regional bodies is mandated under the Tourism Law of 2009, which was not implemented in the last administration but is only beginning to see the light of day during the fledgling Aquino administration.
He reminded all present that Pres. Aquino has made tourism as his centerpiece, hoping that with a focused effort to develop the country’s 7,100 island, it could bring in more visitors and create jobs and livelihood for the people. By Lalaine M. Jimenea
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