‘Dosmetic boat industry needs gov’t support’

Port of Manila (Wikipedia photo)

MANILA — The country may be a top cruising destination, only if the government extends full support on the country’s domestic boat industry, according to boat builder Angelo Olondriz.

Olondriz raised the issue on the first day of the Sea-Ex 2015, a three-day boat show and nautical lifestyle expo which ended on Sunday at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City last Friday.

“Why market one island, when you can invite people to see the country’s 7,107 islands by being a cruising destination,” Olondriz, Sea-Ex chair and president of Headsail Inc. said as quoted in a Philippine Daily Inquirer report.

Olondriz said that the country has a strong potential in the still untapped cruising industry.

“Tourism and transportation would depend on how strong the boat industry would be. People are now realizing its massive potential. But the industry remains small. There’s no way to know its size now because the government is not focused on it,” Olondriz said.

The country’s boat industry is combined with the ship industry making  it hard for boat builders to grow competency, according to Olondriz.

“The rules pertaining to the ship industry are what will kill us. We are different,” he said.

He then called on the government to provide more incentives and reduce taxes for the said industry to grow.