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An
ongoing reality television show in France, expected to
wind up by the first week of August, has captivated the
heart and soul of that country’s citizens and has
resulted in an avalanche of interest on the country’s
tourism potential.
The
show, which a relative by affinity now residing in
France has talked about via e-mail has been receiving
raves from Frenchmen who, we are told, are so enthralled
by the pristine beauty of an island on Palawan where the
episode is being filmed, that they are now thinking of
making the country as their next destination.
In fact,
the Filipina relative has been besieged by so much
interest on things Philippines that the country’s
Department of Tourism (DOT) can take advantage of the
said appetite for the tourism come-ons of the country to
make tourists out of the French.
Tourism,
after all, results in huge economic benefits by way of
inducing a host of economic activities in tourist
places. It is one activity that has far-reaching
economic influence on the locals in a place, ranging
from the building of inns and hotels and related tourism
establishments to the use of indigenous materials for
crafting souvenir items.
The said
show is Koh Lanta, the seventh episode in a sort of
Survivor reality show in the
United States
that has been considered one of the top-rated shows. In
fact, according to a translated version of a French
entry in cyberspace, the beginning episode on June 29,
accounted for 8.22 million televiewers, which is 40
percent of the televiewing public. The succeeding
episodes, according to my relative, has accentuated the
beauty of the island of Palawan so much so that there
are now plans from among the televiewers to visit the
Philippines.
We
understand the French are talking much about Palawan
where camera angles have produced such a captivating
array of differing kinds of beach fronts, virgin foliage
and the intrinsic beauty of the island.
The
show, which pits two tribes of eight volunteers each, go
through a series of tests living in conditions that
approximate primeval times. In fact, the
volunteer-tribesmen are to live throughout the island
sans the amenities of present-day life and they have to
live off the things they find on the island.
The
French, like much of the Europeans, are enamored of the
sun, sand and sea, the three “S” in tourism potential
that the DOT can take advantage of in pushing for more
tourists to visit the country. It is high time the
country capitalized on its competitive edge insofar as
the three “S” are concerned to bring in tourism dollars.
The Koh
Lanta episode can be used as the launching pad for an
aggressive promotion strategy that would haul in the
tourism dollars from the Europeans and, from there, the
DOT can branch out into specific tourists, such as those
who favor ecotourism places which the country has much
to offer.
Tourism
engenders better economic benefits as it marshals almost
all the family members in the countryside. The husband
can serve as a guide, the wife as a handicraft maker and
the children as vendors of souvenir items.
One
tell-tale sign of how one locality in the province was
transformed economically is that of Donsol, Sorsogon,
where fisherfolk, who used to resort to dynamite fishing
to “reel in” the fish, have become whaling enthusiasts
bringing in tourists to “commune” with the butanding.
These fisherfolk are now earning much, much more than
before.
Oil-attaché proposal
The
speakership row continues to heat up with the allies of
Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. and contender Cebu Rep.
Pablo Garcia continuing to trade barbs as the media
noise shifts into high gear as the day of reckoning
draws near.
Mr.
Garcia’s ally, Manila Rep. Amado Bagatsing, yesterday
pooh-poohed the proposal of Mr. de Venecia to create the
post of an oil attaché to Saudi Arabia as a waste of
taxpayers’ money and an example of “how de Venecia tries
to bloat the government bureaucracy for purposes of
political accommodation.”
Actually, Bagatsing is echoing the widespread objection
within the foreign service and diplomatic community
against the Speaker’s suggestion.
“That’s
typical of de Venecia’s style of wheeling and dealing.
’Pag naiipit, he tries to accommodate everybody
and he needs posts like this oil attaché to do that,”
said Bagatsing.
This
accommodation is evidenced by the bloating from 40 to
more than 70 the number of committees to pay back his
allies to whom their chairmanships and memberships were
assigned.
For Mr.
Bagatsing, the accommodation style of Mr. de Venecia, an
alleged penchant for creating positions and bloating the
plantilla of government offices, destroy those
institutions. Let the DFA be spared from this
accommodation as it will just demoralize the
hard-working career public servants there, the Manila
lawmaker said.
Commenting on the oil attaché proposal, Rep. Antonio
Cerilles, said the post is “redundant,” considering that
“the post of an ambassador is an all-encompassing one
that includes all concerns of the government, whether
they be political or economic.”
He also
wondered why there should be a need for an oil attaché
when the country has deregulated the oil industry for so
many years now.
“A
lawmaker should address pressing issues and problems and
not create an artificial issue like the supposed need
for an oil attaché,” said Cerilles.
The next
few days are seen to feature more “word-wrestling” from
the camps of the two protagonists for the speakership as
the proxy fight continues to widen and the issues become
joined.
Hopefully, the word war does not escalate so much as to
hurt the passage of meaningful economic bills that would
accrue to the benefit of the country’s poor.
E-mail:hugagni@yahoo.com |
