Keeping the Island’s Magic Alive

July 2001

The news from Manila was devastating: several tourists had been kidnapped in Sipadan town in Southern Philippines and were being held hostage by a notorious band of rebels known as the Abu Sayyaf. Hours later, Mary Anne G. Cuevas, officer-in-charge of the Philippine Department of Tourism’s Los Angeles office received a frantic phone call from a tour operator in San Diego, California: they had decided to cancel a 10-day Philippine tour booked by 10 young Fil-Am students. According to the tour operator, they simply could not risk sending the unaccompanied minors on the trip, in light of the latest kidnapping incident where the victims were mostly foreign tourists.

For Cuevas, known simply as Annie to members of the Fil-Am media with whom she constantly deals with, the latest incident was one more public relations challenge in a series of marketing and financial obstacles that have lately marked her stint as the Philippines’ highest-ranking tourism representative in Los Angeles.

“Since 1998, we have not been given promotional funds to effectively market the country. In June of last year, we were given a measly $2,400. It became very difficult to promote and be visible in the travel industry. Despite the concentration of major markets and travel industry events and shows in our areas of jurisdiction, our office received the least funding for promotions,” Cuevas says.

“Congress keeps slashing the tourism budget. This, plus the devaluation of the peso, depleted remittances from the home office. The budget is always computed in pesos, but our expenses here are computed in dollars. It has been very difficult to keep up with our operation expenses, leaving us with large deficits with our creditors. There were no excess funds to support even minimal projects such as attendance to travel trade events and ethnic market functions,” Cuevas reveals with a sigh.

The situation last year got so bad that she almost had to give up her downtown office and in fact, uses a computer at work bought with her own personal funds.

In her yearend report to the home office, Cuevas noted that aside from financial constraints, “ the economic, political and security issues that surfaced in the year 2000 did not help either.”

Yet despite the zero budget she has had to work with, and despite the Abu Sayyaf kidnappings that held the country in a grip of terror and dealt a major blow to its tourism industry, in May of last year, Cuevas was able to land the Philippines on the front page of the Travel section of the Los Angeles Times. The same article which highlighted Bohol, Boracay and Palawan as major tourist destinations also appeared in the Denver Post’s New Year’s issue, also at no cost to the government.

With “overwhelming support” from members of the Filipino-American community, her friends in the Fil-Am media, newly appointed Consul-General Edwin D. Bael and the Consulate staff in Los Angeles, Cuevas tapped her creative marketing skills and promoted Philippine destinations to first generation Filipino-Americans, particularly those who had not traveled to the Philippines in quite a while. Staying focused on her goal of promoting certain “anchor”destinations, Cuevas pushed the “Balikbayani” program, proudly noting that Los Angeles registered the “highest” response and that the winners of the program came from her office’s area of jurisdiction. Her office encouraged and supported numerous town homecomings and golfing group tours. Last year too, the PDOT-LA, with Cuevas at the the forefront, spearheaded the organization of the Association of Filipino-American Travel Agents (AFTA).

Cuevas is particularly proud of her role in organizing retail travel agents into an association.

“That was a milestone in the Filipino-American travel industry. By organizing, the Fil-Am agents now have a bigger voice in so far as dealing with big airlines and travel consolidators. They have also placed themselves in a position to help promote the Philippines as a primary tourist destination in Asia,” Cuevas explains.

To offset the negative publicity resulting from the volatile peace and order situation in certain areas, particularly in Southern Philippines, Cuevas has been working overtime, even during weekends, making sure she or her assistant, Manny Ilagan, are a major presence in travel and trade events. Digging into her own pockets for much-needed funds, Cuevas found a way to set up a PDOT-LA booth (in cooperation with RSVP Films) at the Showbiz Expo held at the Los Angeles Convention Center last June where she answered inquiries related to security issues coming on the heels of the Abu Sayyaf kidnappings.

Again, during the Scuba Dive Show at the Long Beach Convention Center, the PDOT-LA, in cooperation with Across Pacific Diving, set up a booth where she distributed promotional materials on the Philippines, specifically diving destinations in the country.

Cuevas has been quite busy visiting travel agents and tour operators, shuttling between Los Angeles and San Diego at her own expense during weekends and working until the wee hours of night to promote Balikbayan package tours, gather feedback on the effects of security issues in the homeland, and discuss ways to increase travel to the Philippines despite the negative publicity. Cuevas also made it a point to hobnob with members of the American-Malaysian community, members of the Diplomatic Corp in Los Angeles and with travel agents who are promoting Malaysia, in the process picking up some valuable information about marketing strategies of Asian competitors.

Believing that one of the best ways to uplift the country’s image is by showcasing the best of Philippine heritage and culture, Cuevas has been spearheading and supporting cultural activities such as the official opening of Philippine Heritage Month in Glendale. “Glendale is the first city to acknowledge the Filipino-American community and its culture. We are working towards establishing Philippine months in other cities as well, “Cuevas says. The Glendale event was hosted by a popular TV news anchor, a Filipino-American, and covered by local news media.

So what drives Annie Cuevas, undoubtedly a tourism stalwart that all the bureaucratic and budgetary constraints can’t seem to hold her back?

“Love of country,” she says without a moment’s hesitation. “But let’s face it,” she laughs, “if this keeps up, I’m going to go broke, and I have already practically lost my social life.Whatever free time I have is spent doing the paperwork.”

“Right now, there is no program thrust, and with no adequate funding for promotions, I just try to attend as many events as possible, and try to market the country by being visible at both mainstream and Fil-Am trade and travel shows, expositions, presentations, sales meetings, and sales missions,” Cuevas adds.

She also distributes press releases on a regular basis, and airs a monthly radio program.

Her main concern right now are the security issues that are raised constantly by agents, tour operators and prospective travelers.

“We have been devising some creative promotional strategies. All travel agents and consolidators have noted a decrease in travel to the Philippines. From January to May of this year, travel to the Philippines decreased by 6.97 percent. During the month of May, it decreased by 9.87 percent,” Cuevas reveals.

Still, Cuevas notes a heightened interest among Filipino-Americans to travel and see their homeland. It is a market she has been vigorously tapping for some time now, and with encouraging results.

“Seventy percent of tourist arrivals to Manila have been from this area and most of them are U.S. passport holders. These are people who can afford to travel. Oldtimers and young college students, in particular have been booking tours to see the country. I try to educate them that there’s more to visiting the Philippines than just coming home for family or class reunions. I encourage them to travel around the country and re-discover the magic of their homeland. Young Fil-Ams, especially those who were born here, have manifested a keen desire to re-connect with their roots, so we arrange special educational tours for them,” Cuevas says.

To address security issues, Cuevas usually asks travelers, particularly those on group tours, to advise the PDOT-LA of their schedule. “We have a “meet and assist” program, and we pass on the information to the home office who send representatives to meet group tours at the airport and provide whatever assistance they may need,” she says. In addition to that, Cuevas says the Department of Interior and Local Government under Secretary Joey Lina, in coordination with the Departments of Foreign Affairs and Tourism is asking the governors and mayors of provinces, cities and municipalities to provide not only security and safety but also special programs and activities for Filipinos visiting from abroad.

According to Lina, the governors and mayors will now directly campaign among Filipinos abroad or among their constituents and assure them of security when they visit the Philippines.

Meanwhile, for those traveling on a limited budget, Cuevas says this is the best time to take a trip. “The rates are low,” Cuevas reveals, “and could go even lower. For instance, a tour of Manila, Tagaytay, Batangas and Laguna could cost only $200 per person. Plane fare to Boracay is only $100 and a three- night stay at an upscale resort with breakfast would only cost about $300 per person.”

If she had her way, Cuevas would implement a marketing strategy aimed at promoting specific destinations such as Cebu or Boracay, utilizing a massive information and marketing campaign that would put grant these destinations the same benefit of name re-call as the island of Bali in Indonesia.

But to do that, Cuevas qualifies, her office would need the appropriate funding. “We’ve been working on a measly budget, and yet we were able to do a lot. Imagine if the home office can give the kind of budget we actually need to embark on an honest-to-goodness marketing campaign!” she says. “We’d be able to tap even the mainstream media, and tap the mainstream market as well.”

Hopefully, the home office will act on her recommendations, which she says has been languishing on somebody’s table for years now, although she says she understands that all overseas government offices experience the same budget problems. Cuevas’s hopes are kept alive with the installation of Richard Gordon as the new Tourism Secretary, a no-nonsense government official who has expressed his determination to put the Philippines back on the traveler’s map despite all the negative publicity, and who has a proven track record of getting things done, even if he has to do it himself.

With Gordon at the helm, and with people like Cuevas keeping the the home fires burning from across the ocean, Philippine tourism stands a good chance of rising from the doldrums of recent years. For the Filipino-American market alone, as Annie Cuevas points out, keeping the islands’ magic alive is worth all the hard work.

— Marisse G. Abelgas