* This is my article in BusinessWorld last February 15, 2019.
“Once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the
earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you
will always long to return.”
— Leonardo da Vinci (Italian polymath, 1452 — 1519)
While I have been to many ASEAN countries, it was only
recently that I have visited some South Asian countries like India (Mumbai
only), Nepal, and Bhutan, all related to attending the Asia Liberty Forum (ALF)
or the Economic Freedom Network (EFN) Asia conferences.
The big cities in our ASEAN neighbors are modern and
developed, starting from their big and modern international airports. Flying
from Manila is also easy because of (a.) the short distance, maximum four hours
direct flight; (b.) lower fares due to many competing airlines; and, (c.)
visa-free entry for ASEAN visits of less than 30 days.
The South Asians have a different environment. Bhutan and
Nepal are very cold as they are up in the high Himalayan mountains — Mt.
Everest can be seen from a distance when flying to Paro or Kathmandu. There are
also no direct flights from Manila so the cost of travel is high, and there is
a visa fee to pay.
All of my past trips to attend ALF and/or EFN conferences
were sponsored by EFN Asia and the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom
(FNF), except for the Nepal trip in 2015 where I was sponsored by Media 9 and
Business 360 magazine, where I was a contributor for free market topics.
I will attend the ALF 2019 in another South Asian
country, Sri Lanka, from Feb. 28 to March 1. One thing that is weird going
there is that almost all airlines from East Asia — Malaysia, Singapore,
Thailand, Hong Kong, South Korea, etc. — arrive in Colombo airport in the late
evening to early morning. Only the Sri Lankan airline flying from these
countries arrives in Colombo at day time. For me this is indirect local airline
protectionism.
I checked the tourism numbers — South Asia is not exactly
a favorite destination for many international visitors, unlike many ASEAN
countries. India, with its population of 1.3 billion, attracted only 15.5
million foreign visitors in 2017, nearly comparable with Singapore’s
(population 5.7 million) 13.9 million visitors (See Table 1). I did not include
in the list countries with very small numbers of foreign visitors in 2017 like
Brunei (0.26 M), Bhutan (also 0.26 M) and Nepal (0.94 M).
Next, I wanted to know how many of those international
visitors in the Philippines and its neighbors are from the ASEAN. The numbers
are a bit surprising — less than half a million of the Philippine’s
international visitors are from our neighbors in the ASEAN. We are not
attractive to our neighbors, like Myanmar (See Table 2).
Malaysia, Laos, and Cambodia are attractive to their
neighbors — partly because one can travel from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur by car
or bus in five hours or less, with no need to fly; and partly because Malaysia
has huge competing airlines that cater to all visitors, from the rich to poor
travellers seeking budget airlines and landing in budget airport terminals.
Thus, the Malaysia experience can be a model for the
Philippines in attracting more foreign travelers. Indonesia too — it is
expanding its airports to be bigger, more modern. I saw the new Soekarno Hatta
Airport last year when I attended ALF 2018 in Jakarta and I was surprised by
its modernity. The airport’s passenger traffic rose from 57.8 million in 2012
to 65.7 million in 2018.
More big domestic airlines, more regional airline
competition, more budget terminals alongside main terminals to attract more budget
airlines local and foreign — we need them. The freedom to fly for more
Filipinos and more foreigners seeing the Philippines should increase.
-------------------
See also:
BWorld 291, Mining, tobacco tax hikes, MACR and PSA liberalization, February 07, 2019
BWorld 292, Inflation and the Transportation sector, February 08, 2019
BWorld 293, Solar para sa pulitika, Rice Tariffication para sa masa, February 13, 2019
No comments:
Post a Comment