AN INDUSTRY PAPER OF THE PHILIPPINE HOTEL INDUSTRY

BUSTAMANTE, Patricia M. 18 March 2017

CHAPTER 3: STRENGTHS AND WEAKENESSSES

The Philippine Hotel industry has seen areas of boom in the recent years, although we

cannot discount the fact that there are minor challenges that they had to face. There are so many

multi-lateral initiatives in line with the process of attaining a level of robustness and

sophistication in the Philippine hotel industry, with the help of the Department of tourism,

various government agencies, LGUS, and even that of the private sector.

STRENGTHS

Given that the Philippines is a developing country with a booming economy and an

increase in domestic and foreign tourism, this can be credited to the strengths enlisted below:

The Philippines boasts a great tropical climate, compared to its Asian

counterparts.
The big cities in the Philippines have a developing infrastructure.
The Philippines has a highly-skilled work force.
The Philippines has English as its second language.
The Philippines is rich in biodiversity, from its beaches, mountains, rainforests,

and diving spots within its 7,107 islands.

The Philippines is rich in historical and cultural heritage attractions.
The Philippines has a well preserved natural cultural diversity.

WEAKNESSES
 The Philippines is still facing some challenges despite trying to keep up with the

growing demand for the hospitality and hotel industry and the boom of foreign and domestic

travels.

Slow implementation of government programs related to tourism and the

hospitality industry.
Susceptible to political occurrences.
Tourism campaigns haven't been successful.
Poor airport facilities.
Lack of civilian discipline.
Lack of accessibility due to poor transport system
Isolated resorts and hotels in the provinces.

The main strength of its country are its people and its beauty. Despite of that fact and the

efforts to improve the Philippines as a travel destination, we are still ranked 5 th worst Aiport in

Asia. In line with this, the Philippines also found itself in hot water with the tanim bala

scandal that has created a negative reputation for the country, as well. Regarding the safety of

the country as a whole, there are still conflicts and unrest in Mindanao as well as the extra-

judicial killings fueled by the Duterte Administrations war on drugs. This has created an

unsavory aspect to the image of the country as a travel destination, despite of the tourism

campaign efforts to boost tourism.

In Metro Manila, there are cases of pickpocketing foreign tourists which counts for the

lack of civilian discipline in the area. Most of the time, police are not found in pickpocket prone

areas, and some of these places at night are not very well lit. When it comes to the transport

system, nothing beats Metro Manila traffic, the congestion in the trains, the smoke-belching of

the jeepneys, and the over-charging of the normal and airport taxi. The best thing that has ever

happened since this is the emergence of Uber in the Philippine commuters life. In line with the
issue of the poor transport system, in the provinces and rural area, some hotels are resorts are

hard to reach because there are no roads or transport systems in the area. Some of them may be

reached through walking or a habal ride, which can be particularly damaging for the business

in the area, as well.

When it comes to the effectively of the Department of Tourisms add campaigns, it is not

enough that they do full on marketing alone, because it entails more costs without the desired or

significant output. They also have to do damage control on the negative press surrounding the

country and work with other government agencies as a whole to give the much needed boost to

their add campaigns. The problem within this problem is too much red tape and bureaucracy in

the Philippine government to get things done.

REFERENCES
Mateo, J. and Desiderio, L. (2016 October). NAIA Ranked 5th Worst Airport in Asia [News web

post]. Retrieved from: http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2016/10/19/1635156/naia-ranked-5th-

worst-airport-asia

Andrade, J.I. (2016 April). Tanim Bala back? Woman, 75, stopped at NAIA with Bullet in Bag

[News web post]. Retrieved from: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/780663/tanim-bala-back-woman-

75-stopped-at-naia-for-bullet-in-bag

Mendes, C. (2016 December). Duterte: I Killed 3 People but EJK just BS [News web post].

Retrieved from: http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2016/12/17/1654312/duterte-i-killed-3-

people-ejk-just-bs

Hernandez, B. (2015 July). English Proficiency as a Competitive Edge [News web post].

Retrieved from: http://opinion.inquirer.net/86602/english-proficiency-as-a-competitive-edge

Francisco, K. (2016 March). Creating Sustainable Transport Systems: PHs Progress So Far

[News web post]. Retrieved from: http://www.rappler.com/science-nature/environment/127075-

philippines-sustainable-transportation-strategy