ILOILO City – An accreditation campaign, the crafting of Provincial Tourism Development Plans, the development and enhancement of emerging and existing tourism products and conduct of core training programs and modules will be the center of the 2019 programs, projects and activities (PPAs) of the Department of Tourism Region 6 in partnership with local government units of the six provinces and two highly urbanized cities and their respective private sector in Western Visayas.
DOT Region 6 director Atty. Helen Catalbas encouraged tourism officers to closely coordinate with their respective Tourism Development Area (TDA) managers from the DOT Region 6 to ensure that all of the target this year will be accomplished.
“Projects that will benefit the community, programs that promote inclusive growth and activities that assist in providing investments and livelihood should be the focus of the PPAs for 2019. This year, we will highlight programs that advocate Gender and Development, Youth, Senior Citizens and Persons with Disabilities”, Director Catalbas explained.
Director Catalbas also reminded the provinces and HUCs to finalize their respective Provincial/City Tourism Development Plans. She stressed “tourism development plans will be a pre-requisite for considering various project proposals including Tourism Road Infrastructure Projects (TRIP).”
During the recently concluded Regional Consultative Workshop for TRIP, director Catalbas emphasized that tourism development plan will be one of the requirements for the evaluation of proposed road projects to be implemented starting 2021. She added, only those proposed road projects that were not included for funding in 2019 will be evaluated for the 2021-2022 TRIP
“The Department of Tourism is here to support the LGUs in realizing the tourism potential of their communities. We create the demand while LGUs must develop tourism products and services to meet the growing demands. Tourism is not DOT’s business, it is everybody’s business,” director Catalbas concluded./PN
