The tourism industry is urging the government to rush the lifting of visa restrictions for other Asian and European nationals who can fill the gap created by a projected decrease in Chinese tourists.

The president of the Tourism Congress -TC (what’s that? a new black hole?) said: “The government needs to fast-track the relaxation of visa requirements for countries such as India and Russia, so we can adjust our promotions to them to fill the gap that will be created by the Chinese market”.

Echoing the same, the Department of Tourism (DoT) said: “We will just have to work triple time on other markets. Key markets that we want to unlock and tap are Taiwan and India.”

Funny people in those key positions at TC, DoT and BoI. Why do they not give all the potential tourists a free 30 days visa waver? Are there someones that are more equal than the others?

Facts are:
Koreans continued to be the top visitors at 265,031, accounting for 23.08 percent of total market share.
Followed by Americans with a count at 179,561 (15.64 percent)
and the Japanese at 104,558 (9.11 percent).

All these 3 money-bringing nations and many more still have to run to a BoI before their 21 days visa-waver expires.
And then it costs a bit of money for the next 38 days:

Need to know more about visa – visa extension and other fees`
See here: http://www.silent-gardens.com/visa.php 

The Camiguin Action Geckos  are now flying.

Today our friends and neighbors discovered again the 3rd dimension. Usually they can be found (-3D) below sea-level but today they were flying (+3D) many feet above sea-level.
The crew of the best known resort in Camiguin had a trip to the new zip-line over the Taguines lagoon in Benoni.

The Action Geckos: Last check before take-off

 
Only in Camiguin - Flying Geckos – Action Geckos!

It’s more fun in Camiguin – with the Action Geckos, of course! 

Both photos are courtesy of Camiguin Action Geckos.

In 2007 one of the biggest problems for webmasters and developers were the different web-browsers. Mozilla’s Firefox had been the only browser 100% conform to the W3C recommendations. Microsoft’s Internet Explorer had been the worst case. So, we first had to check which browser you use and then inject the correct CSS code.

Today, all browsers respect most of the W3C recommendations, some small deviations still exist. Today’s challenge are the different screen sizes and screen formats. People browse the World Wide Web with small screens of cellphones and smartphones, but they also browse the Web with giant screens with extremely high resolutions. We try to follow this development by implementing a flexible layout.

The new version of Silent Gardens is now undergoing beta tests. We have already moved 13 pages (out of several hundreds) to the new format. Now we would like to ask you to help us. 

Please go to the “Beta Test Site “, have a quick look and tell us about your first impression.
If you have a bit more time, then please browse through the existing pages and inform us about errors, bugs and typos. Please do not forget to inform us about your browser and if possible your screen size.  Thank you very much.

Here is a first impression of the new version:

For our team it would be much easier to make corrections only on the template and the 13 existing pages, than overhaul hundreds of pages in a later moment. Thank you guys.

1. China Southern Airlines will cut its normal two flights daily between Guangzhou and Manila down to a single flight on certain days, from May 26 to June 30.

2. Beijing has refrained from sending warships from its increasingly powerful and modern navy to enforce its territorial claims. Instead, China has deployed patrol vessels from its expanding fleet of paramilitary ships to Scarborough Shoal, known in Chinese as Huangyan Island. Naval experts say the intent is to minimize the risk of conflict and contain any regional backlash.

After alarming some of its neighbours in recent years with assertive behaviour in the South China Sea, China has turned to “small stick” diplomacy, using unarmed or lightly armed patrol boats from fisheries, marine surveillance and other civilian agencies rather than warships.

3. Last Sunday the Virginia-class fast attack submarine USS North Carolina (SSN-777)  surfaced  in Subic Bay in Zambales where it is currently deployed to ensure freedom of navigation in the Western Pacific.

The arrival of one of the most modern submarines in the United States Navy came as the Philippines is embroiled in a standoff with China for more than a month now in Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal, 124 nautical miles from mainland Zambales.

 Photo courtesy of Defense Industry Daily

]]> http://www.silent-gardens.com/blog/2012/05/the-tensions-between-china-and-the-philippines-get-uncomfortable/feed/ 0 http://www.silent-gardens.com/blog/2012/05/soon-cost-transparency-with-promo-tickets/ http://www.silent-gardens.com/blog/2012/05/soon-cost-transparency-with-promo-tickets/#comments Tue, 15 May 2012 07:11:16 +0000 waebi http://www.silent-gardens.com/blog/?p=1698 Continue reading →]]> The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Department of Tourism (DOT), and the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) have come up with guidelines on budget airlines fare promos amid mounting complaints from passengers against poor services and alleged “deceptive” marketing promotions.

This is what they offer	This is what you pay

Above sample is from Cebu Pacific Air. They are not the only ones. Zest Air and Airphil Express have similar offers with similar price policies.

The new regulation, which will be released by June, mandates budget airlines to be clear with their marketing promotions.

The government earlier called the attention of disgruntled passengers of budget airlines regarding poor services and deceptive advertisements concerning their low fare marketing promotions and urged them to go to the DTI.

Passenger air traffic in the first quarter of the year rose by 13 percent to 5.16 million compared to 4.57 million a year ago, the CAB reported.

This was attributed to the aggressive marketing promotion of budget airlines, offering as low as 1 Peso base fare for early booking.