Tourism private sector laments lack of direction
Posted by unang apluma on Sunday, October 31, 2010
Under: news
“TOURISM needs more direction from the Department of Tourism as the transition and settling period for the new administration comes to an end.”
This was the assessment of Jose Clemente III, Director and President of the Worldwalker Destinations, when he discussed the outlook of tourism in 2011 during a forum organized by the European Chamber of Commerce and the American Chamber of Commerce last October 28 at the Dusit Hotel in Makati.
The Forum identified tourism as one of the seven big winners for Philippine economic development.
Clemente said that the honeymoon period for DOT is now over and it is time to get really moving. He mentioned that the last quarter of the year is the usual period when tourism counterparts in other countries start firming up plans and programs in preparation for another year but so far, nothing appears to be happening at the DOT’s end.
He cited the need to sustain a lasting brand for the Philippines that does not change with every change of leadership. He mentioned the plan of DOT to launch a new Philippine tourism brand in the first week of November, calling this a “deep, dark secret” because so far, no one in the industry seems to have a clue about this.
Benjamin Romualdez, who represented the mining sector in the Forum, agreed with the assessment and said that for a brand to be successful, it must be accepted and owned by the stakeholders and should be the result of a broad consultation process.
Also present during the forum was the president of the Tourism Congress (TC), Alma Rita Jimenez, who confirmed the observations of Clemente when asked for comment.
She said that in TC’s consultations with the different tourism sectors from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao, there is a growing dissatisfaction over the lack of direction as to where Philippine tourism is headed. As things stand now, the preponderant majority of the private sector continues to remain uninformed about the official directions of the tourism development program of the country.
Jimenez avers that as far as the private industry is concerned, there are no official DOT plans that can now be used in business planning. There are no firm commitments for agency support or leadership in programs that have to do with promotions, marketing, and business development.
“This is the time to roll up our sleeves and work especially in the aftermath of the August incident,” said Jimenez. “We in the Tourism Congress already submitted our tourism agenda containing our recommendations for the industry last July 15 but sadly, there has been no response to date.”
Tourism Congress is the private sector consultative body in the development, implementation and monitoring of Philippine tourism policies as mandated by the Tourism Act of 2009. It represents 70 national and regional associations from the sectors of accommodation, travel and tours, MICE, land/sea/air transport services, tourism estates development and other tourism enterprises, where more than 3000 tourism enterprises belong.
This was the assessment of Jose Clemente III, Director and President of the Worldwalker Destinations, when he discussed the outlook of tourism in 2011 during a forum organized by the European Chamber of Commerce and the American Chamber of Commerce last October 28 at the Dusit Hotel in Makati.
The Forum identified tourism as one of the seven big winners for Philippine economic development.
Clemente said that the honeymoon period for DOT is now over and it is time to get really moving. He mentioned that the last quarter of the year is the usual period when tourism counterparts in other countries start firming up plans and programs in preparation for another year but so far, nothing appears to be happening at the DOT’s end.
He cited the need to sustain a lasting brand for the Philippines that does not change with every change of leadership. He mentioned the plan of DOT to launch a new Philippine tourism brand in the first week of November, calling this a “deep, dark secret” because so far, no one in the industry seems to have a clue about this.
Benjamin Romualdez, who represented the mining sector in the Forum, agreed with the assessment and said that for a brand to be successful, it must be accepted and owned by the stakeholders and should be the result of a broad consultation process.
Also present during the forum was the president of the Tourism Congress (TC), Alma Rita Jimenez, who confirmed the observations of Clemente when asked for comment.
She said that in TC’s consultations with the different tourism sectors from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao, there is a growing dissatisfaction over the lack of direction as to where Philippine tourism is headed. As things stand now, the preponderant majority of the private sector continues to remain uninformed about the official directions of the tourism development program of the country.
Jimenez avers that as far as the private industry is concerned, there are no official DOT plans that can now be used in business planning. There are no firm commitments for agency support or leadership in programs that have to do with promotions, marketing, and business development.
“This is the time to roll up our sleeves and work especially in the aftermath of the August incident,” said Jimenez. “We in the Tourism Congress already submitted our tourism agenda containing our recommendations for the industry last July 15 but sadly, there has been no response to date.”
Tourism Congress is the private sector consultative body in the development, implementation and monitoring of Philippine tourism policies as mandated by the Tourism Act of 2009. It represents 70 national and regional associations from the sectors of accommodation, travel and tours, MICE, land/sea/air transport services, tourism estates development and other tourism enterprises, where more than 3000 tourism enterprises belong.
In : news