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Subic Bay
Freeport—Except for educational field trips occasionally
organized by schools and some local government units, the
bulk of local tourists in Subic used to be the more
affluent weekenders from Metro Manila.
Seeking to
escape stress and pollution in the city, they would pack
their sports clothes and swimwear, hitch the jet ski or
mountain bike trailer to the SUV, then motor off to Subic
for two days of sun, sand and surf.
The
commercial opening of the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx)
on Monday, however, is expected to release the floodgates
for a different breed of tourists coming to
Subic: families
and other village-based units on day tours.
And that
doesn’t necessarily mean they would come from the
millionaires’ row “down south.” More likely, a lot would
also come from industrial and farming communities “up
north.”
The
viability of Subic as a day-tour destination for residents
from Northern Luzon was demonstrated on Monday with the
tourism initiative “Global Gateway Caravan.”
With about
200 vehicles in a convoy, the caravan took off from the
Luisita Mall in Tarlac, cruised along the SCTEx, and
reached
Subic’s
Boardwalk
Park after about an hour’s travel.
“This is
the kind of road that brings you to world-class
destinations,” said Renato Tizon, vice president for
marketing of the Manila North Tollways Corp. (MNTC), which
now operates the interconnected SCTEx and North Luzon
Expressway that leads back to Manila.
“Before
the opening of SCTEx, people were reluctant to go to Subic
because of the [long travel] time that forced them to stay
overnight and check in at hotels,” Tizon said.
“Now they
can come to Subic, enjoy the beaches and theme parks, and
go home the same day,” he said.
A Subic
invasion by the hoi polloi, officials of the Subic Bay
Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) said, would be most welcome.
“We’ve
foreseen this shift to a more democratized audience mix,
and that is why we’re strengthening Subic’s capability as
a one-stop tourist destination,” said SBMA deputy
administrator for tourism Raul Marcelo.
“Subic has
practically everything that would cater to a wide range of
visitors —clean beaches, nature theme parks, modern
facilities and amenities, as well as good security. With
the opening of the SCTEx, we really expect a lot of
tourists flocking to this area,” he said.
The
sights, sounds and unique experience in
Subic “make the travel very much worth it,” he added.
One local
tourist who recently visited the place said that besides
the thrills of the themed areas, “being in the site alone
of a place that foreigners shut off to Filipinos for
decades gives me pleasure beyond words.” The man had sat
for hours on a bench facing
Subic Bay, near the vaunted flagpole—the tallest in the country—just
outside the main SBMA administration building. He also
took in the now-fading, engraved citation near the
flagpole, of the historic Senate vote by the so-called
Magnificent 12 that decided, in September 1991, that it
was in the national interest to end the treaty that had
given the
United
States full control of Subic as a military base.
Now,
nearly 17 years later, it is clear that Subic is a
progressive place for both Filipinos and foreign locators
alike, providing the right fit for business and
tourists—and now, even just the day tourists from around
North Luzon.
If the
SCTEx trial run during the Holy Week were any indication,
Marcelo said the Subic Bay Freeport would soon be
“bursting at it seams” during peak tourist seasons that
normally occur during summer and the Christmas holidays.
During the
Holy Week, records from the SBMA Tourism Department
indicated a 26-percent increase in hotel occupancy here,
with eight of the 32 hotels polled recording a booking of
100 percent.
The
average rate in hotel bookings in that period was 84
percent, compared with just 58.31 percent during the Holy
Week last year.
Marcelo
added the Holy Week dry run of the SCTEx brought in about
25,000 vehicles to Subic, and close to 100,000 visitors.
This figure, he said, did not include “day tourists,” who
simply came to enjoy the sights, or dine in restaurants,
then leave for home at the end of the day.
“The easy
access provided by SCTEx really made it easier for people
to come over,” Marcelo said. | 
