Bohol officials are in a state of panic after unverified reports came out, alleging that Bohol has been edged by its neighboring provinces such as Cebu and Negros Oriental in terms of number of tourist arrivals this year. The decline of tourists choosing Bohol as their favored destination, according to observers, is largely blamed on expensive room rates even during lean months of the year. They said that costly hotel and resort rates are not commensurate to what tourists are getting in terms of food quality, personalized service, and available facility. To put it simply, tourists are allegedly not getting the value for the money they pay for their stay in Bohol. Decline or increase in tourism arrivals cannot just be measured by numbers culled from unreliable sources who pretend to be statistics-conscious. Though expensive room rates are a major turn-off for tourists traveling in a shoestring budget, not all causes of the decline of tourist arrivals in Bohol can be associated with money paid to poorly maintained hotels and resorts.

In a fast-changing world, it is always difficult to get to the top. Staying at the top is even harder. More so in the arena of tourism enterprise. With so many stakeholders wanting to get prime attention from adventure seekers, the race to the top is undoubtedly breath-catching. Investors are also pouring in fresh capitals to newly-found destinations or lesser known places. As new tourist destinations keep popping up, old-time favorites can be sidelined in a tourist’s itinerary. It is not enough that our local government lures vacationers to come to the Philippines, equally crucial in our marketing strategy is how we could convince them to stay in Bohol after they reach Manila or Cebu. And if they find that there are few activities in Bohol that can lessen the doldrums of their journey, visitors would just hop on the next boat or plane trip and spend the rest of their vacation days somewhere else here or outside the country. Worse, if vacationers would find that they book in a hotel or resort that continues to defy the need to install a WiFi access in all their rooms and areas, they may never return here again.

What await them are places like Camarines Sur and Norte, Albay, Sorsogon, and Batangas that are making headlines in tourism news. People now have more options where to go and spend their money than before. In a country where every Juan can now fly, the introduction of budget airlines has unshackled a rather timid, reluctant traveler. Cheap airlines have freed us from the horror of day-long and night-long torture inside ship cabins. Also, the Internet has opened the eyes of travelers and made them more aware of places not found on Lonely Planet books or on brochure-racks idly sitting at airport and seaport arrival areas. Given these scenarios, and among other considerations, the business of tourism is becoming more and more competitive each day. And if a resort or hotel does not keep up with the demands of time and instead refuse to upgrade (and even put up a WiFi access), that is not much of a problem as travelers are flooded with a lot of choices. They can just google their options. It is not an issue whether Bohol is number one or number ten in the list of most attractive travel destinations in the country, the real issue here is whether or not our resorts and hotels and all tourism stakeholders have fairly and honestly given value to the money spent by our visitors.