MY JOURNEY BACK TO CATICLAN...
I had an enjoyable holiday in Hong Kong & Macau, taking lots of pictures with my new Canon 7D. I took the direct flight from Hong Kong to Kalibo and upon arriving, I took a van back to Caticlan. During the journey, I heard a conservation between a Swedish & American. The American was first time to the island and the Swedish gave him some advises, telling him to be careful of Filipino that may get a chance to cheat him since he is new in the island. Telling him that tricycle driver will over charge since he is white. Telling him to be careful of commissioners in the island, they may give him a low price but different services. Telling him to be careful of his belonging, it may be stolen when unnoticed.
When I heard all these advises, I felt disgusted! Why would this Swedish gave such advises to someone who is new in the island? Is there some truth in what he said? He must have been cheated before, he must have an experience with a commissioner in the island to give such advises. He must have lost some of his belonging when he was in the island. Well, so sad to hear such advises from a foreigner giving to another foreigner who is new in the island. Why do we have such publicity? Can all these be prevented and controlled?
I lived in the Philippines for more than 10years and I have travelled to different places such as London, Germany, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan promoting Philippines as a destination for exploration, experience and excitement. It is indeed more fun in the Philippines even though I did have some bad experiences in the country and the people. I still choose to stay in the Philippines, I have lived in Boracay for almost 5years and there are so much changes and improvement done to the island but I believe there are much more to be done especially on customer service.
We are expecting more than 1,000,000 tourists for 2012, I am very positive that we will head towards this target. There is no longer lean season in the island, it is either peak or very peak or super peak! I believe as we are doing everything to market the island to reach our target, let's look into growing the business for 2013, 2014 and the years to come. A way of increasing the business will be the experiences of those who have already visited the island. Just imagine 1,000,000 tourists already visited Boracay and had a great experience and they will go back to their country and ask 2 friends to visit the island and these 2 friends will recommend their friends to visit the island, do the calculation and it will be easy for us to expect more tourists in the island in the island. This will be a great source of income!!!
However; if these 1,000,000 tourists had a bad experience in the island, do you think they will recommend their friends to visit the island? All our marketing efforts will be down to the drain and are we able to continue to enjoy the high number of tourists in the island forever? As an Accredited Tour Guide of Department of Tourism, it is my duty and responsibility to promote well of the country and island. I may have some bad experiences in the island or with some Filipino but I still choose to tell people the good things of this country and of course their experiences in the island. After every services is rendered, I always hope my guests will have a big smile on their face and sharing their good experiences with their friends.
I wish the government will not just concentrate in marketing Philippines as a destination but work on the experiences of the tourists, they are our best marketing tools! Let them go back to their countries with good experiences and they will recommend their friends to visit the country. I hope the government of Malay will have more control of tricycle drivers, not over charging tourists especially those who don't speak good English and most important drive safely on the road. I hope they will look into illegal commissioners in the island, to be fair to those who are legal to operate in the island. I hope resorts will provide more training on customer services to their staffs and teach them to value every tourists that visit their resort. Good customer services is the best value in marketing the business!
Let's work together to increase the number of tourists in the island! Mabuhay Boracay! Is more fun in the Philippines but is even more fun in Boracay Island!!!
We are expecting more than 1,000,000 tourists for 2012, I am very positive that we will head towards this target. There is no longer lean season in the island, it is either peak or very peak or super peak! I believe as we are doing everything to market the island to reach our target, let's look into growing the business for 2013, 2014 and the years to come. A way of increasing the business will be the experiences of those who have already visited the island. Just imagine 1,000,000 tourists already visited Boracay and had a great experience and they will go back to their country and ask 2 friends to visit the island and these 2 friends will recommend their friends to visit the island, do the calculation and it will be easy for us to expect more tourists in the island in the island. This will be a great source of income!!!
However; if these 1,000,000 tourists had a bad experience in the island, do you think they will recommend their friends to visit the island? All our marketing efforts will be down to the drain and are we able to continue to enjoy the high number of tourists in the island forever? As an Accredited Tour Guide of Department of Tourism, it is my duty and responsibility to promote well of the country and island. I may have some bad experiences in the island or with some Filipino but I still choose to tell people the good things of this country and of course their experiences in the island. After every services is rendered, I always hope my guests will have a big smile on their face and sharing their good experiences with their friends.
I wish the government will not just concentrate in marketing Philippines as a destination but work on the experiences of the tourists, they are our best marketing tools! Let them go back to their countries with good experiences and they will recommend their friends to visit the country. I hope the government of Malay will have more control of tricycle drivers, not over charging tourists especially those who don't speak good English and most important drive safely on the road. I hope they will look into illegal commissioners in the island, to be fair to those who are legal to operate in the island. I hope resorts will provide more training on customer services to their staffs and teach them to value every tourists that visit their resort. Good customer services is the best value in marketing the business!
Let's work together to increase the number of tourists in the island! Mabuhay Boracay! Is more fun in the Philippines but is even more fun in Boracay Island!!!
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