From requiring hotels to play original Pinoy music (OPM) to instructing spas to offer an hour-long native hilot service, the Department of Tourism (DOT) has come up with various directives that end up turning tourists away instead of luring them to visit the Philippines.
Manny Gonzalez, the owner of the five-star Plantation Bay Resort and Spa in Cebu, shared some of the “stupid” orders issued by the DOT, which is currently led by Secretary Christina Frasco.
In a July 15, 2023 opinion piece for the Philippine Star, Gonzalez said the Philippines appears to be the only country in the “free world” which requires hotels to play OPM music in lobbies.
A seasoned traveler and businessman, Gonzalez said most four- and five-star hotels in the world either don’t play any music in their lobbies or play sounds that are barely audible.
He said his resort plays the sound of a “gentle waterfall” in the lobby to welcome guests.
“We are a truly world-class resort, 100 percent designed and run by Filipinos with no input from any international chain, perfectly competent to compete internationally. Instead of leaving us alone, the absence-of competence DOT and other elements of our government have, over three decades, repeatedly sabotaged us. How did some clueless bureaucrat in Manila acquire the right to force me to ‘culturally-brand’ based on their baduy idea of Filipino service?” Gonzalez said.
Another DOT directive that Gonzalez opposes is the requirement for spas to offer a native hilot massage service with a “precise sequence for its entire hour, minute by minute.”
He said it’s baffling how the DOT plans to enforce the order in spas, which are private spaces.
“As you might guess, Plantation Bay Resort & Spa has a spa. I have been directly involved in the development of several of our treatments, and I assure you this hilot-by-the-book idea is also STUPID,” Gonzalez said.
The hotelier lambasted the Frasco-led agency as an entity “run by clueless bureaucrats” who want businesses to blindly follow their orders.
“Our tourism industry— formerly 15 percent of the entire economy, now only 5 percent— is in the hands of petty bureaucrats with no relevant experience, no basic business sense and not even any common sense,” he said.
Gonzalez said the government needs to accept that the Philippines cannot compare with the United States, Egypt, Japan and Norway for “scenic wonders” that foreign tourists will go out of their way to visit.
“Fortunately, scenery is not what most customers want to buy. So let’s stop selling it. What most tourists want to buy is illustrated by Thailand, Spain, Mexico, Hawaii, the Caribbean and most successful tourist destinations: ease of access, comfortable accommodations, climate, rest, relaxation and some diversions (but not round-the-clock diversions),” he said.
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