Tourism reality check, and the truth no-one wants to hear

At the recent HSMA Summit (Hotel Sales & Marketing Association) held at the City of Dreams ballroom, a keynote speech delivered by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Sec. Jonvic Remulla was either (1) the too honest breath of fresh air we should grudgingly welcome or (2) the can of worms that should have been left unopened.

- PHILIP CU UNJIENG

Either way, his pronouncement that one of the major reasons the upswing in Tourism figures has not happened is because the country is perceived as unsafe elicited a flurry of reactions. To quote Remulla, "People do not want to come to the country because they don't feel safe. They are afraid. There is cynicism in all the bad news that goes on here, and in the political atmosphere..."

And to be fair to Remulla, he did go on to say that's it's on them, as DILG, to change that scenario and perception and he listed down an action plan on how this was to be achieved. So it wasn't a case of uttering a bleak statement, with no proposed solution.

For myself, while a number of Tourism stakeholders then decried Remulla's statement as bad timing coming on the heels of the HelloSafe index report, which our Department of Tourism had questioned; I was appreciating that here was one official voice who was not insisting on painting a rosy picture in the face of disturbing, incontrovertible facts.