Places : Manila - A City that Never Sleeps

If America has New York City as the city that never sleeps, Asia has Manila as the city that never sleeps. Manila as a "never sleeping" city is a recent phenomenon. 

Hongkong , Macao, Bangkok, Manila and other Asian capitals, are given "late sleeper" cities and bustling with activities even at night.  But a recent business trend  and cost cutting practice called: business outsourcing, has made Manila the 24-hour no-sleep city of Asia. 


Business outsourcing has introduced large-scale business call centers  in Manila and this has made Manila's night time as regular business working hours, and has employed thousands of  Filipinos and expatriates. These call centers serve multinational companies in different time zones of the globe has made Manila one of  the busiest business call center hubs in the region. But while other Asian cities are dimming the lights of their buildings and business districts, and getting ready to sleep, Manila is lighting its own to start another business night. 

India is the call center capital of the world until recently, but the Philippines has grabbed this tag. The reason for the shift, they say, is due to the preference for the less accented American English spoken by the Filipinos (as compared to the heavily accented British English of the Indians). The influence of Hollywood movies in making American English the common English is likely another reason for the shift.

Manila- Asia's City that Never Sleeps

Going back to the main topic of Manila being Asia's city that never sleeps, besides the introduction of  call centers, other factors have contributed to this phenomenon. Manila having one of the most vibrant night life and live entertainment in Asia is one reason, and another is the  recent proliferation of 24-hour casinos, shops and restaurants. Both have added to the nocturnal activities of the city. 

But one factor, distinctly Filipino, that has contributed much in making Manila the sleepless city that it is, is the Filipinos' love for coffee.( Asia is generally a tea drinking continent ) Majority of Filipinos being coffee drinkers, have made coffee drinking a ritual and a regular  social activity; and this has created some sort of an elitist subculture of coffee drinkers. This is the reason why many local and international coffee shop chains, have successfully thrived in the Philippines  despite the competition. Many of these coffee shops are open 24/7 and offer unlimited free wifi to night owl netizens. And for many coffee addicts, night time until the crack of dawn, is  the best time to have a cup of hot brewed coffee or a glass of frappuccino with friends.


Sleepless Manila will never be the same again.


Related Link : http://edition.cnn.com/2012/04/30/world/asia/philippines-call-centers/index.html?hpt=hp_mid


Acknowledgement : 
Picture Source : http://www.pbase.com/manilaxperience/image/99515454