A tip of the blog hat to regular reader Laurence who brought this to my attention:
Asean open skies
We hail the announcement by Transportation and Communications Secretary Leandro Mendoza last Thursday that the Philippines will sign in December an open skies agreement with Asean member-countries.
Open skies throughout the ten countries of Asean will surely boost tourism, and of course trade, substantially.,, rest of the Manila Times article is here.
In spite of how we sometimes carp and complain about airline service in the US, we Americans are truly blessed since the de-regulation of air traffic back in the 1980s. An airline company can just start serving a city whenever they see demand.
In Asia it often is still back in the dark ages, when airlines have to go through months of government hoops before they can get permission to even try to make a profit.
This announcement is good news, not only for the Philippines but for all the member nations of ASEAN (Association of SouthEast Asian Nations). For the past few years I have been wondering if this organization had died … they appear to be alive and well, thank goodness.
The rimes article points up an attitude I see all too often in the Philippines. It talks about some kind of alchemy regarding tourism and gains in the economy.
Unlike newspaper writers who were born, went to school and got a job in the same city, I have been traveling for both business and pleasure for more than 50 years now. The idea that "tourism’ is a separate and distinct segment of the economy and that ‘business’ is a separate entity is dumb and shortsighted.
For every tourist who visits, drops a few dollars and leaves for good there are many others who come just to take a look, see opportunities and invest … and many other business persons who come to attend meetings, conferences and educational opportunities that they would not bother with if seats are scarce and expensive.
Again, I welcome the good news, but the Philippine DoT needs to wake up and smell the coffee (the excellent coffee that it is so hard to get in the Philippines) and stop treating tourists as some sort of rare endangered species. The focus needs to be on making a robust, convenient travel infrastructure … tourism and commerce will then follow, hand in hand.
Popularity: 10% [?]
*nods in agreement*…right on the money…!
But, this article seems to only say that it will be Open Skies among the ASEAN, not with other countries. I don’t see too much real benefit there. Let’s call it “Partially Open Skies” because that is what it really is, after all.
Bob,
There’s not many airlines that fly direct from US or Australia to Philippines, and I doubt that this will change much in the near future. However, fly direct to Singapore (for example) and you’ll have a lot more options of getting to the Philippines.
Agreed, Bob, but we have to appreciate the small steps. The US is likely never going to sign an open shies agreement with the Philippines because the prevailing wisdom is, those underpaid Asians are going to steal American jobs. Hate to say it, but it’s true.
In terms of overall tourism the US will never be a huge market, compared with China and the ASEAN countries. It’s a small step, but a step in the right direction at least.
@ Laurence: Exactly. Making it easier/cheaper to get to/from Singapore or Hong Kong to/from the Philippines makes it easier to get to/from any other country.
Philly,
In addition, there might be the possibility of including a stopover in Vietnam (for example) and then being able to fly direct from Vietnam to Phils.
I actually prefer to include some other stops when I’m visiting the Philippines. If I’m travelling all that way then I might as well visit some other destinations is SE Asia.
I also think that this open skies policy will lead to a lot more backpackers visiting the Phils because they will also be able to fly direct from any SE Asian country (hopefully).
I know. A lot ofpeople are in too much rush. It’s better to take a day or two along the way, makes it much less of an ordeal … plus, you get to see more for almost the same price.
“The US is likely never going to sign an open shies agreement with the Philippines because the prevailing wisdom is, those underpaid Asians are going to steal American jobs. Hate to say it, but it’s true.”
This is untrue.
The USA has a copious supply of uneducated, drug-addled, illiterate low-cost laborers in the form of Mexicans and the native graduates of USA public schools.
The hard working Asians are not depressing wages, they are filling real needs and no airline agreement is going to affect immigration, legal or otherwise. Given that the Asians are hard-working, law-abiding, literate and God-fearing, they are held in low regard by the low lifes in US Congress.
Hi Thomas,
I thought a long time before I let this one through. Fine to express your opinions, oksy? But let’s lose the hate language. Mexicans and any otjer ethinic groups are no more or less uneducated than any others … and you missed the complete point of what I adi regarding the protectiveness of the US opne skies rules. American airlines/workers do tend to be afaraid of Asian competition exactly for the reasons you expressed so bluntly.
Now let’s talk more about the Philippines, ok?