The development of more tourism enterprise zones (TEZs) in Negros Occidental will contribute to improving the province’s economy, an official of the Department of Tourism (DOT) in Western Visayas said.
DOT Region 6 Administrative Officer Artemio Ticar, designated tourism area development head for Negros Occidental, Sunday said that having TEZs would encourage businessmen to become locators and invest in various tourism-related developments.
This is mainly because of the benefits that they can avail of investing in TEZ areas, Ticar said.
“More investors mean more income for the province and employment opportunities for our workforce,” he said, adding that increase in revenue and job generation would surely impact positively to Negros Occidental’s economic growth.
The Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (Tieza), through its TEZ Regulation Department, earlier reported that there is no area yet designated as TEZ in Negros Occidental.
Amid being a good tourism investment area mainly because of vast lands potential for real estate developments, the agency said there is only one pending application from Negros Occidental.
This application is for a general leisure tourism enterprise particularly a resort type situated in Silay City, it added.
Cristine Mansinares, provincial supervising tourism operations officer, said as early as 2012 there were already applicants from the province.
Mansinares, however, said all applications nationwide are being ranked for the national government to determine what to prioritize.
“We might be qualified to apply but we were not prioritized because there are more ready sites than what we have here in Negros Occidental,” she said, adding that “thus, in the local level, we are encouraging also for more TEZs.”
Agreeing to the statement of Ticar, the provincial tourism officer said TEZ development will encourage and facilitate more tourism-related investments in the province.
Mansinares said apart from the application of Silay City, other local government units (LGUs) are also urged to venture into creating such zones.
“Beyond tourist arrival targets, the government and private sector can pull their resources together to also increase the tourism investments in the island,” she said, adding that the province is giving technical assistance to interested applicants, whether LGUs or private, through the Provincial Economic Development and Investment Center.
During the TEZ Investment Forum last week, TEZ Regulation Department Manager Nino Aquino explained that agency has become more aggressive in pushing for the development of more TEZs in the country since the issuance of the revenue regulations by the Bureau of Internal Revenue in 2016.
Without these revenue regulations, investors cannot avail of themselves of the incentives, whether fiscal or non-fiscal, Aquino said, adding that there are two kinds of TEZs, the private and the public or flagship zones.
For private TEZs, or areas with private individual owners, the owners are the ones presenting their development plan. The Tieza then check whether it is feasible and sustainable.
For flagship TEZs, the agency is doing the master development plan for the areas identified through an inventory created by the DOT and LGUs.