Tourism in the Philippines

[cyberpinoy]

The Philippines is one of the most beautiful places on earth. When you are looking from a very far distance, but like anything else you should not judge this book by its cover. The country of the Philippines depends on foreigner for everything, even their every day life. But they cant see past their hands in front of their face. For a country as beautiful as this, their concentration and ethics on tourism needs to be greatly increased. When you visit the Philippines, it is so breath taking, until the plane lands. At which time, the cab driver who takes you to your hotel doubles or even triples your cost of the taxi ride. You will notice very few places have prices market on anything, so as you shop, you have to ask what the price is of everything. You can bet they just doubled it or even trippled it. Even if there are prices n a product they will scrape it off and double the price. I watched a clerk literally scrape the price off a product when i asked how much it was. I did not see the price tag until i saw here scraping it off. once I saw that I reached around and grabbed another one, the products price was 100 pesos, she quoted 270 pesos but said she would give me a discount and I can have it for 250. I then gave her the one that said 100 pesos and said you can keep that one I will buy this one for 100 pesos.

And I can go on and on about how scandalous some of the people are in this country, But my question is for a country that has the ability to make 100 times the income on their tourism if they just eliminated problems like this, and for a country who always holds their hands out to foreigners looking for a handout, why do they continue to kick the gift horse in the mouth. I dont want to seem to rude here, but after living here for 4 years it is best just to be blunt. Are the people here so dumb they cant see the repercussions of their greedy actions. do they not understand that ripping a few foreigners off for a total of 300 pesos a day is not as good as making 50 pesos a person in profit from 300 foreigners a day? How can they be so utterly stupid when it comes to business economics?

 

[globulon]

I definitely understand where you're coming from, cyberpinoy. I've been to the Philippines a couple of times and it is indeed beautiful, if sometimes a bit smoggy and packed (especially in Manila). Most of the locals I've encountered are among the nicest people I've met, but there are definitely some that can give the nation a bad name. It is very apparent that corruption runs rampant in the Philippines.

 

[Scorpion]

Yes I been to the Philippine back in 2007. Its very beautiful country. I visited Manila, Baguio, Boracay and finally Palawan then back to Manila airport> Saudi Airlines> Riyadh.

 

[Gasoline]

Unfortunately I haven't been to Philippines. But I would be glad to have a chance for that.It's awesome country and I heard many good things about it .I know that people are friendly there and I dealt and worked with many Philippians in Saudi Arabia they were respectful and so friendly .

 

[Scorpion]

Oh on a side note if you guys were to go there don't forget to taste Jollibee a food chain equivalent to McDonald's.

 

[xTinx]

I've been to the Philippines - of course, I live here. Anyhow, I hope people will also see other places in our country besides those already known as tourist hotspots. There are so many wonderful underrated destinations that are surely worth exploring if only tourists will see beyond the usual.

 

[cyberpinoy]

Oh on a side note if you guys were to go there don't forget to taste Jollibee a food chain equivalent to McDonald's.

I love jollibees, but to be honest I will take McDonalds over it any day. I like my real meat, those 1/16 of an inch burger patties just dont get it for me, i need a double quarter pounder to make me happy HAHA.

 

[Gelsemium]

I never been to the Philippines, but I would certainly love to go. I think it has to be a great place for tourism, I am guessing it's not too expensive. I am just wondering about the security, is it safe for tourists?

 

[fire421]

I would love to go to the Phillipines but traveling costs a lot of money.

 

[Nur]

I love jollibees, but to be honest I will take McDonalds over it any day. I like my real meat, those 1/16 of an inch burger patties just dont get it for me, i need a double quarter pounder to make me happy HAHA.

Just buy more than one burger, haha! My relatives from outside the country also comment how little the servings are but I honestly never noticed that it was small. Unless it's the mini/jr sizes, I thought the burgers were enough to make you full especially if it's with a bunch of fries and coke. Then again, I guess it is small if it's compared to the BIG servings on Western countries. I can't ever finish the fast-food orders I ate when I was in Canada for example. It's tooo much! >_<

 

[Gelsemium]

Now I had to Google jollibee and in fact they do resemble like McDonalds lol, just the Philippine version of it!

 

[Nur]

Now I had to Google jollibee and in fact they do resemble like McDonalds lol, just the Philippine version of it!

It's a direct competitor! Actually, I think it's even more popular here than McDonald's, which is a rare thing to happen, if the statistics I read before is still correct, haha. It actually started earlier than McDonald's here, starting at 1978 versus McDonald's first branch on 1981 but I think it was inspired by American-styled fast-food chains which is why it looks similar to McDo. It solidified its popularity by having a very distinct Filipino taste when McDo started out as being very American before adapting a Filipino style as time went by. Filipinos like sweet spaghetti for example, in contrast to the sour (?) tasting spaghetti of other countries. We like lots of sweetness and flavor really. I've always heard cousins from other countries comment on how sweet the food here are, haha.

 

[cyberpinoy]

HAHA I will never forget my first trip to McDonalds here the items available on the menu HAHA you will not find them in USA :0 and Jolibees is not more popular because it tastes better, its more popular because its cheaper food. For me I would rather eat a good hearty McDonalds hamburger rather than those paper thin mostly bread sandwiches Jolibees and all other Filipino hamburger places sell. However I am also about 4 times taller and bigger than any 1 Filipino s i like a good heart meal, and 4 pounds of rice does not constitute a hearty mean for me HAHA. However, I do like Jolibees salisbury steak like meal, 2 patties with mushroom gravy, if now they could replace the rice with mashed potatoes it would be the best meal on thier menu

 

[krazyman]

Now I had to Google jollibee and in fact they do resemble like McDonalds lol, just the Philippine version of it!

This is an awesome picture! Thanks for sharing this!

I'd love to see this part of the world. I've never traveled to the other side of the International Date Line but it is on my bucket list. The Philippines is on my list of places to hit. For those of you who live in the East - what do you recommend seeing first? For someone who has never been to any Asian nation - what would be the order of places (or countries) to visit and are there any placed to avoid?

Thanks!

 

[Aree Wongwanlee]

I have never been to The Philippines but I have met some Filipinos. Some are good and some are not so good. As for visiting The Philippines, it sounds like an idea but, basically, it's very much like where I live now, so there is no real urgency for me to go there to see things which I can see at home.