ILOILO City – The Department of Tourism (DOT) Region 6 together with the DOT-Office of Tourism Development Planning, Research and Information Management (OTDPRIM) recently conducted the Accommodation Establishment/Tourism Enterprise (AE/TE) Forum for the Provinces of Iloilo and Negros Occidental and Cities of Iloilo and Bacolod.
The Tourism Enterprise Forum on Business Indicators was successively held on March 5 & 7, 2019. The forum was participated in by 60 Local Government Unit officials and staff from accommodation establishments of the City and Province of Iloilo and 75 participants from the Province of Negros Occidental and Bacolod City. The forum aimed to enhance the participants’ understanding in measuring their performance as a tourism business enterprise, the importance of data compilation in local level and the implementation of the Basic Statistical System.
Iloilo Province and Negros Occidental Province presented their Tourism Statistics Situationer. Tourism Officer Gilbert Marin said that the main objective of the province is to aggressively promote Iloilo as a multi-faceted tourism destination capitalizing on its common strengths and highlighting individual district’s unique tourist attractions. On the other hand, Negros Occidental province has developed strategic plans to achieve their goals for the tourism industry. They plan to develop and market competitive tourism products and destinations, improve market access, connectivity and destination infrastructure and improve tourism institutional governance and human resources.
Ryan R. Carlos, Senior Tourism Operations Officer of DOT-OTDPRIM discussed how to measure the success of local tourism establishments and conducted a workshop on recommended recording templates for establishments.
Department of Tourism 6 regional director Atty. Helen J. Catalbas stressed that the proper and correct data gathering and reporting of each establishment plays a major role in determining the direction of our tourism industry. Regardless of the programs implemented by the government, if the establishments will not cooperate, the tourism industry in the region will not go far.
“No matter how small our contribution may seem, it is vital for the growth and development of our country and people,” Atty. Helen Catalbas reiterated./PN
