BBC 3's Blood, Sweat and Luxuries

[Pete/London]

Yet on a kuwait airlines plane i went on once which literally stopped in Thailand for passagners to board and get off loads of tourists got on and off after that it was the same old same old types.

Very strange yet in London I always see lots of wow Philippines adverts and now and then a mention in the travel pages but nothing like the mentions both in the media and the people i interact have for its neighbours

Yes but the Philippines has something that Thailand and Vietnam does not, muslim independance fighters and the commies in the north. The commies in Vietnam are docile and need the money from tourism, but I think Bangkok has lost most of its tourism for a while.
You also have the long nose tax to put up with

I do`nt think the government is that worried about tourism as it biggest export ,people, keeps the country afloat with the money they send home.

[somebody]

Yes but the Philippines has something that Thailand and Vietnam does not, muslim independance fighters and the commies in the north. The commies in Vietnam are docile and need the money from tourism, but I think Bangkok has lost most of its tourism for a while.
You also have the long nose tax to put up with

I do`nt think the government is that worried about tourism as it biggest export ,people, keeps the country afloat with the money they send home.

Very true but lets be honest people came to the UK when we had bombs going of here there and everywhere.
From what I read Thailand for the last 5 years or so has had troubles. Plus had the southern thailand insurgency http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_So...iland_bombings From what I read and see Indonesia has plenty of issues in some areas but doesn't stop many from what i see.

Plus when I speak to typical Brits who have travelled widely about Phill they rarely if ever mention the "troubles" some might mention ferries sinking, poverty and possibly floods possibly Imelda and her shoes is all they know. If i be honest i knew more about just about every other Asian country than Phill before I met the Wife as well

So why does Phill have wow philippines and often when a new terminal or airport is set up much talk of tourism? If they had more employment locally from the tourist trade and gained more tax i think any government would be happy. There's plenty of Phills who would be happy to work in the tourism trade as many in other asian countries have found and the UK will find as the pound weakens

I think if you asked the phill government if they would love rich no trouble family tourists coming to Phill as many Korean and Japanese do. Ask most young people what are they studying and HRM will be the response if its not nursing. Quite a few of the ones i know have either studied and transferred or even completed a degree in what would normally be termed a more useful degree ie Business or IT already.

Having people working abroad maybe very useful for balance of trade, supporting families and money into the local economy but as well as all the currency coming in to develop surely some of the Brains of the nation need to stay locally and possibly develop businesses in the long run remember all those tourist business need an infrastructure including Nurses,Doctors, lawyers and IT workers.

India have found this they are now trying to encourage more of the talent to stay in the country to help actually grow the nations economy. They will still have more NRI's than there are Brits sending money home and im sure plenty of phills will still work abroad.

[Pete/London]

To develop tourism you need a forward thinking government to put the infrastructure in place.Sadly, its the same old political elite or film stars that get elected to plunder the finances leaving the country to stagnate. Every one of my in laws would leave if they could for one reason only, to earn money, but they all love their country.
They really do deserve better politicians.

What a pity we did`nt get round to colonising the P.I. as almost every country we did has been left with the infrastructure in place to succeed.Could you imagine the P.I. with a railway system, it would be great.

We might be going the same way now with our own corruption as it seems British politics is full of thieves and sexual deviants standards have gone down the pan

[darren-b]

Could you imagine the P.I. with a railway system, it would be great.

I'm just trying to imagine how you are going to link up all the islands with railway bridges

[bornatbirth]

I'm just trying to imagine how you are going to link up all the islands with railway bridges

heard of the euro tunnel?

[darren-b]

heard of the euro tunnel?

Yup, the one that cost a massive amount of money to build...

Train tunnels under water are probably more complex and costly to build. My point really was that a country with so many islands spread out over a large area isn't the idea place for a national railway system.

[somebody]

To develop tourism you need a forward thinking government to put the infrastructure in place.Sadly, its the same old political elite or film stars that get elected to plunder the finances leaving the country to stagnate. Every one of my in laws would leave if they could for one reason only, to earn money, but they all love their country.
They really do deserve better politicians.

What a pity we did`nt get round to colonising the P.I. as almost every country we did has been left with the infrastructure in place to succeed.Could you imagine the P.I. with a railway system, it would be great.

We might be going the same way now with our own corruption as it seems British politics is full of thieves and sexual deviants standards have gone down the pan

Well the Brits were in mnail for three years but before we have invented trains

In the Wifes town is a railway track I have no idea where it goes but does seem odd neither the spainish or yanks at least in the areas around manila and elsewhere didn't have train lines or did they?

[Pete/London]

In the Wifes town is a railway track I have no idea where it goes but does seem odd neither the spainish or yanks at least in the areas around manila and elsewhere didn't have train lines or did they?

Where my wife lived in A.C. there is also a disused rail line at the end of the road that`s been built over by squatter shacks. I think there was a line that ran from La Union to Bicol years ago so I think a system could work that would cover Luzon down to Matnog for Samar and then onward from there.
I suppose it could happen,unlikely but you never know if oil prices go higher and higher.