Unnecessary warning

Unnecessary warning

Philippine Daily Inquirer
Asia News Network
Manila

At the summit meeting of the leaders of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations in Phnom Penh (last week), terrorism and
tourism were almost always mentioned in the same breath.

Concerned over the fall in tourist arrivals, the leaders
decried the efforts of the United States and many other Western
countries to discourage their nationals from visiting the region
on account of terrorist threats.

As a result, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said, tourism
was declining at a time when "ASEAN countries are more than ever
working together to protect our tourist destinations from
terrorist attacks.''

It now appears that Arroyo was wrong -- at least partially and
rather happily so. According to the Bureau of Immigration, more
foreigners have been coming to the country during the first 10
months of the year than last year.

From January to October, the bureau counted 1,578,198 foreign
arrivals compared with 1,512,145 the previous year, a modest
increase of 4.36 percent. Interestingly the number of foreign
visitors shot up to 132,702 in October this year, compared to
only 97,081 during the same month last year.

And the figures are not even all in yet, according to Tourism
Secretary Richard Gordon. The numbers for this year include only
those who arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, so
there should be a little bit more when the reports of arrivals
come in from the country's three other international airports in
Laoag, Cebu and Davao.

How was the country able to buck the region-wide slump in
visitor arrivals that everyone in the tourism industry has been
complaining about? Ever cheerleader Gordon said the increase
showed the "resiliency" of the country's tourism industry in the
face of terrorism. He said the Philippines continued to be "one
of the safest tourist destinations in the world."

Gordon must be joking or he is talking about a different
country. In October alone, 20 people were killed in nine bombing
incidents that occurred in places as varied as Zamboanga City and
Kidapawan, both in Mindanao, Pampanga, La Union and Metro Manila.

Going back a few months, scores of Filipinos and foreigners
have been abducted from just about anywhere, including the pricey
Dos Palmas resort in Palawan.

Before that kidnapping crisis was over, two Americans had been
killed -- one by beheading at the hands of his Abu Sayyaf
abductors and the other in the crossfire during the rescue of the
remaining hostages. In the last few weeks, all the police and
military could talk about was the possibility of more terrorist
attacks, especially in crowded places, and the local cells of
international terrorist organizations like al-Qaeda and Jamaah
Islamiyah.

Filipinos, to their credit, may not have allowed themselves to
be paralyzed by fear in the face of all this violence. But to
foreigners such incidents hardly make the country an attractive
destination, unless of course they are themselves up to no good,
like the few al-Qaeda operatives who have been caught here.

Gordon has noted that despite the negative advisories,
Japanese, Korean and Chinese tourists continue to visit the
Philippines. He and other tourism officials should hasten to find
out why.

Unless the immigration data are wrong or these Asian tourists
have a fascination for danger, it looks curious that they would
be coming in greater numbers to our neck of the woods now. Their
reasons could very well be the key to the survival, if not the
progress of the industry.

In the meantime, it's futile to try to persuade the United
States and other Western governments to take back their
advisories advising their citizens against making trips to the
Philippines at this time.

U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher has explained
that his government has the responsibility to warn Americans
about potential dangers they might face when they come here.
Urging caution is the least any government should do when it
perceives danger to its citizens.

And when the Armed Forces Chief of Staff, Gen. Benjamin
Defensor, describes the terrorist threat in our part of the world
as "at a heightened stage" and the government succeeds in having
10,000 communist guerrillas of the New People's Army classified
as a terrorist organization, the issuance of a travel advisory by
any foreign government becomes unnecessary.