The Moral Challenge of Responsible Tourism

The Philippines is spending large amounts of money for a slogan that will summarize a new attractive tourism programme to promote the best aspects of the beautiful country and its people. It is not hard to love the Philippines once you visit here. The people in general are courteous, welcoming, friendly and hospitable. There are fantastic landscapes, beaches, islands and natural beauty; great food, improving infrastructure, and low-cost travel. It’s a very affordable tourist destination and safe and secure, away from the southern parts of Mindanao.

But the challenge for the recently appointed Secretary of Tourism, Ramon Jimenez, is to find a way to promote these positive aspects in the midst of many negatives. Some officials naively tell journalists not to publish bad news that will damage the country's image. The challenge is to change the negative realities that create bad news. 

Secretary Jimenez will have a 1.3 billion pesos budget to encourage positive press coverage and entice the hoped-for 32 million Filipinos to become tourists in their own country and attract a targeted 4 million overseas tourists to these beautiful islands in 2012.

It is difficult to summarize these positive and attractive attributes into one simple slogan that will intrigue and attract the interest of the holiday maker. The public relation companies are being paid fabulous sums of money to come-up with a slogan to promote in a word these attractive attributes of the country. It has been suggested that a national competition be held so the people can decide the best slogan. It will help the people think positively about the Philippines as a tourist destination for themselves and others.

This can help change the low self-esteem that some Filipinos have of themselves due to a colonial mentality. They have been convinced that they are inferior to Caucasians whom they wrongly think are racially superior. Witness the deference given to foreign tourists even if they are sexually abusing our women and children. The judicial system rarely tries or convicts a foreign sex tourist. It’s time to assert the dignity of the Filipino and a true patriotic spirit through responsible tourism. 

A marketing slogan has to be authentic. Here are some of my samples that are generalizations - "Fabulous Philippines", "Fantastic Philippines", "Beautiful Philippines". These can work but slogans with a specific focus can be a more difficult challenge. 

A slogan such as "Nature's Glory - The Philippines", focuses on the natural beauty of the country. Beautiful it is indeed, but it’s a hard sell when the international media and the internet is chockablock with image crumbling news reports of the environmental damage caused by open pit-mining, coal-fired power plants, deforestation, coral damage, polluted coastal waters, untreated sewerage flows and other environmental man-made disasters.

A government and private investors that want a huge tourist industry have to address the environmental threats first. The unrestrained logging causes flooding and landslides and the loss for the last remaining patches of rain-forest leave precious little to attract the nature and forest-loving tourists. Also a slogan like "Precious Philippines" is out to call to mind the precious minerals being exploited at high cost to the environment. 

"Beautiful Philippines" is an authentic tag-line .The country is magnificent when it is unspoilt and the people are generally good and friendly. But they have been damaged by poverty, people traffickers and exploiters. The tourist promoters of recent years equate "beauty" with beauty contests where young women in bikinis are on display and are vulnerable to being trafficked into the thousands of sex bars.

What needs to be done to win 4 million tourists is to close down the sex tourism industry and promote genuine dignified tourism where the true friendly nature of the people is not linked to sex bars and trafficked persons. "The Philippines - Friendly Faces, Warmest Hearts" will then be authentic invitations and not empty marketing tag-lines. The tourism industry must realize that the future is in a morally clean authentic tourism where the tourist can meet the real people and have a life-changing experience. Family tourism can then be promoted with slogans like "The Philippines - for Friends and Family". Likewise when the sex industry is closed down there will be no misunderstanding if we promote the country as "Adventure Islands -The Philippines". The respect and admiration of the world will be ours.

(Fr. Shay's columns are published in The Manila Times, in publications in Ireland, the UK, Hong Kong, and on-line.)

Human Rights and Tourism

Berlin. The case of a 14 year-old child, call her Angel, who was sold by her parents to an Australian tourist at Baloy Beach, Olongapo city and made the child as his live-in sex toy caused me to speak more forcibly than usual at the International Tourist Exhibition in Berlin (ITB) held last 9th to 13th March. As a member of a panel to discuss Human Rights and Tourism, the fact that thousands of children and youth are being sold as sex-slaves to foreign tourists with the connivance of local authorities in the Philippines and elsewhere, gave a critical edge to my speech.

During the exhibition (the world's biggest), I joined the press conference and with the international child rights organizations ECPAT and Tourism Watch, we called for justice for child victims in tourism and for governments, tourist associations and operators to put human rights before profits.

Sex-tourism is one of the worst aspects of the industry where violations of human rights occur. Millions of women and children are trafficked and sold into prostitution yearly around the world - an estimated 100,000 in the Philippines alone.

When children as young as 11 can be picked-up and sold to sex tourists on the streets of Angeles city (although the authorities deny it happens), we have to take a stand and speak out. The city and town mayors give the permits and licenses for the brothels and clubs to operate. It does great harm to the child victims, the community and the Filipino people. It is a cause of shame and embarrassment to Filipinos everywhere but not to the officials behind it. They make the big money.

As announced at the ITB tourist associations and travel agencies that have signed up to the tourism code of conduct (the code.org) and agreed to send their customers to countries that have clean tourism and child protection as a priority. Checking some of the travel agencies brochures offering holidays in Asia, I could not find a single one offering the Philippines as a destination.

That's because the dirty side of Philippine tourism is showing. Street pimps, vendors, taxi drivers, waiters, hotel staff and even police are pimping minors to foreign tourists. Foreign guests in a Manila five-star hotel were offered young girls and they reported it. The Preda foundation offered to give free child protection seminars to the hotel management and staff but they were refused. Next time the offers of sex in the hotel will be videotaped and posted on YouTube. Name and Shame is perhaps the only way to protect the children. Complaints made to the International Tourist Agencies who signed the Code of Conduct will result in the blacklisting of the offending resort or hotel. (Report abuse to preda@info.com.ph)

Angel was rescued from the sex-tourist and taken from Baloy beach to the Preda Children's home for healing and protection. She was just finding her childhood again when the Australian's defense lawyer persuaded the Olongapo judge to return her to the parents who pimped her, this, despite overwhelming medical evidence that she was continually abused by the suspect and in grave danger. Every judge is supposed to act in the best interests of the child. The court’s decision has been sent to the Court Administrator at the Philippine Supreme Court for evaluation. Let the Senate investigate too. Now the child will be prevented from testifying against her abuser.

There are some people who believe that young Filipino girls, even underage, ought to be available for the sexual gratification of older Caucasian foreign men, especially if they are willing to pay large sums of money. How else can we explain the almost total absence of prosecutions and convictions of foreign child sex abusers in the Philippines? Even the conviction of traffickers of persons is so low that the Philippines is on the watch list of the US State Department for non-compliance with international standards. Unless there are just prosecutions and sound convictions, the anti-trafficking and child protection law appears to be a useless scrap of paper and the system looks like a game where everyone is making money. The chief justices ought to act and save the justice system. If not, there will be many more victims like little 14 year-old Angel unless there is serious reform.