What's On & Expat - Philippines

MURRAY HERTZ

LAST WEEK’S MANILA OVERSEAS PRESS CLUB Tourism Night proved to be an interesting one. It was a rainy, gloomy evening and attendance was not as brisk as usual, but Tourism Secretary Ace Durano proved to be an interesting guest speaker and, as usual, handled himself with confidence and poise. His presentation, called “The How Behind the Wow,” netted me some interesting information. Not only was I surprised and impressed that visitor arrivals will soon break the 3 million mark, but I was even more amazed to find out that the bulk of tourists to Boracay Island are domestic, not foreign. On the other hand, Cebu, our second largest city and now loaded with good resorts, claims 70 percent of all visitors are foreign tourists and only 30 percent are domestic. Palawan has 60 percent foreign visitors and 40 percent domestic. To my further surprise, 60 percent of all of Shangri-la Mactan’s guests are Korean. But – hey – let’s not stop there. More surprises: 70 percent of the guests at Amanpulo, the country’s most expensive resort in Palawan, are Korean. Secretary Durano went on to point out that the Korean market is not only formidable as tourists, but also as investors in this country. So, does that mean we will soon see adobong kimchi on some of our menus? You bet it does. Waddya’ mean, you don’t like kimchi? Just eat it and shut up! It’s helping to pay your rent every month.

 

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THERE’S MORE and don’t you dare fold this column up for the bottom of the bird cage! At least not yet. Durano went on to say that there is a new Visa On Arrival policy for Indians. No, dummy, not the American Indians like Pocahontas or Sitting Bull, but the Indians from India, where else? As a matter of fact, said Durano, “someone is now proposing a Visa On Arrival policy for all visitors. This, he feels, will surely pump up the already pumped up tourism situation in the Philippines to an even higher level. There were many interesting questions from the members and guests, but I liked veteran columnist Emil Jurado’s query. “Why,” asked Emil, is Sentosa Island in Singapore having a building boom with huge hotel and casino projects now being built and Macau, already booming with casinos and giant hotels, said to out gross Las Vegas, and it is not happening in the Philippines? Good question, Emil. I’d love to have a good answer as well. It could have been us and although some say it is slowly happening here, I am wondering when, if ever. But what really surprised me most about this meeting attended by some of the Philippines top journalists and decision-makers, no one asked what I thought was on most people’s minds, “What effect will the bombing or explosion or whatever they decide caused so much death, destruction and chaos at Glorietta last week, have on tourism in this country? For some reason or another, everyone seemed to stay away from that one? Wonder why? Ace Durano lucked out.
 

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  AND SPEAKING OF THE TRAGIC EXPLOSION, newswise, we fared a bit better than usual. The bigger and even more devastating bombing in Pakistan stole much of the world-wide news reports

and the Philippine tragedy took a back seat. Most of the negative news reports were brief, giving way to Pakistan. I was surprised at how many friends of mine living abroad had not heard about the explosion until I asked them.
 

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  EAR TO THE DOOR: Long-time hotelier Arthur Lopez will open his new luxurious Bellevue Hotel in Panglao, Bohol, in about 18 months…Panglao seems to be the newest resort area to pose a serious competitive threat to Boracay… Been around for awhile? Remember way back when, way before we were inundated with cell phones? Finding your snoozing driver when you needed him was a major chore. The smart folks bought walkie talkies but us plebes just had to march around the parking lot to find the car and wake up the driver. Do I miss those good ol’ days? Hell no! Hooray for my cell…That Scandanavian Society crayfish (crawfish?) party last week was a blast and a half. Totally informal with never ending platters of crayfish on every table, the lucky invitees ate and sucked crayfish heads until their cheeks ached. Booze? Of course. Schnapps, Aquavit and Vodka along with what seemed like barrels of wine, was enough to cap the (hic) evening and provided a morning hangover that was almost worth it. Grinned Magnus Gall, a veep of Ericsson, Telecommunications and a true Scandanavian Society crayfish sucker, “Our motto is ‘Eat good, sing a lot and have a great time.” And that we did.
 

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  ODDS & THE END: This is a true account recorded in the Police Log of Sarasota, Florida: An elderly Florida lady did her shopping and, upon returning to her car, found four males in the act of leaving with her vehicle. She dropped her shopping bags and drew her handgun, proceeding to scream at the top of her lungs, “I have a gun, and I know how to use it! Get out of the car!” The four men didn’t wait for a second threat. They got out and ran like mad. The lady, somewhat shaken, then proceeded to load her shopping bags into the back of the car and got into the driver’s seat. She was so shaken that she could not get her key into the ignition. She tried and tried, and then she realized why, ... it was for the same reason she had wondered why there was a football, a Frisbee and two 2 packs of beer in the front seat. A few minutes later, she found her own car parked four or five spaces farther down. She loaded her bags into the car and drove to the police station to report her mistake. The sergeant to whom she told the story couldn’t stop laughing. He pointed to the other end of the counter, where four, pale men reporting a car jacking by a mad, elderly woman described as white, less than five feet tall, glasses, curly white hair and carrying a large handgun. No charges were filed. Moral of the story? If you’re going to have a Senior Moment, make it memorable.
 

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www.whatson-expat.com.ph