Tourism awardee suggests production of tour guide DVDs

A TOURISM stakeholder suggested the production of DVDs containing audio-video presentations (AVP) of local landmarks with foreign translations.

Latvian consul Robert Joseph, who is also chairman emeritus of the National Association of Independent Travel Agencies (Naitas), said he is willing to donate P500,000 to jumpstart the initial production of the AVPs, which is set to start in the next few weeks.

He identified Cebu City as the pilot area for this project.

In a recent interview, Joseph said he is in talks with the local government and tourism stakeholders for this project as it needs support to effectively implement and roll-out the project not only in Cebu but in other cities in the country.

Budget

“This (production) needs a budget of P10 million to P15 million,” he said.

Joseph said they will first identify and take shots of the various landmarks in the city, craft a tour guiding script that will be translated into various languages and produce it into DVDs.

He said that with the project, tour guides no longer need to learn to speak foreign languages, only a few phrases.

Joseph said aside from the involvement of LGUs and private stakeholders, he will coordinate with the National Historical Commission because the AVP will not only show Cebu’s pristine beaches but more importantly, its rich culture and heritage.

Joseph will also ask the help of the various embassies to handle the translations. The AVP on tour guiding will be limited to the landmarks of the tour.

Instead of giving tip or gratuity to tour guides, Joseph said, tourists may buy DVDs from them.

Marketing tool

“This will then become an effective marketing tool for tourism in Cebu and the Philippines as they (foreign tourist) show our local tours to their families abroad. There are high chances they will visit Cebu and experience the local tours themselves,” he said.

Joseph, who was awarded Tourism “Man of the Year” in Cebu during the Tourism Congress of Cebu Business Month 2012, said he is optimistic Cebu will record more tourist arrivals because it is the gateway of tourists to Visayas and Mindanao.

He said Cebu should tap more the MICE (meeting, investment, conventions, and exhibitions) market as well as increase traffic from Japan.

“The Japanese spend more in terms of consumption,” he said.