Cordillera tourism office calls for Benguet confab

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet -- The Department of Tourism (DOT) is calling on officials of Cordillera for a conference to detail fine points of the National Tourism Development Plan (NTDP) from Tuesday to Wednesday.

Regional Director Purificacion Molintas is inviting all officials to be part of the two-day event comprised of a one-day lecture and one-day workshop.

Molintas said the topics to be discussed are the NTDP; Tourism Development Blueprint 2011–2016 followed by the Cordillera Tourism Situationer; a product marketing analysis and updates on the convergence program enhancing tourism access; DOT–DPWH projects; and eco-tourism best practices.

The DOT launched a national blueprint seeking to address the key challenges in developing the tourism sector, in a bid to increase the sector’s share in the country’s total economic output.

Molintas said the NTDP outlined a clustered approach in tourism development within the region, as well as within the cluster of regions such as Central Visayas, Metro Manila and Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon), Central Luzon, Palawan, Western Visayas, Davao Gulf and Coast, Northern Mindanao, Bicol, Laoag-Vigan.

“It has identified tourism development areas based on its respective comparative advantages, nature, culture, and product portfolios,” Molintas said.

For the province, the DOT, in coordination with the DPWH, has earmarked millions in road development of tourism highways, making it easier to access areas in Benguet. There is a P170-million budget for Benguet province seen to further improve the local tourism industry.

DWPH tourism road projects are part of the P6.6-billion infrastructure fund of the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) for 2013.

The fund duly approved and included in the General Appropriations Act would be used to concrete arterial and secondary roads in CAR, which have combined linear length of 1,900 kilometers (km).

“We need the support and cooperation of all stakeholders to realize it, the identification of and prioritization of competitive tourism products and the determination of development requirements are vital for us to position our region to interconnect with our neighboring regions to take advantage of the gains of the industry,” Molintas said.

There were close to four million tourist arrivals in 2011, however, the country still ranks behind its neighbors: Malaysia (25 million), Thailand (19 million), Singapore (13.2 million), Indonesia (7.6 million), and Vietnam (6 million).