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Thursday, October 07, 2004
Tour operators urged to get accreditation
THE Department of Tourism (DOT) is encouraging tour operators that want to handle tour groups from the People’s Republic of China (PROC) to get accreditation.
A DOT accreditation will facilitate the entry of tourists from the PROC even with the Philippines’ lifting of the visa requirements for people from that country, DOT Secretary Joseph Ace Durano said.
The DOT, following one of the recommendations of a study by international consulting firm McKinsey to target China, has been exerting efforts to attract Chinese tourists.
Durano said requiring only accredited tour operators to serve the Chinese market is one of the safeguards of the country against some unscrupulous Chinese who come to the couantry for illegal purposes.
“DOT-accredited tour operators have to be careful with their operations, or else their licenses will be revoked,” he told stakeholders of the Visayas tourism industry in a forum held late last month at the Cebu Grand Hotel.
Durano said the DOT is now aggressively implementing the memorandum of agreement (MOA) it signed in August 2001 with the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and the Bureau of Immigration (BI) on the accreditation of Philippine tour operators handling tour groups or individuals from the PROC.
The main objective of the MOA is to enable the government to better achieve its goal of eliminating barriers to tourism without prejudice to the enforcement of domestic immigration laws affecting foreign tourists to the Philippines.
Guarantee
One of the critical stipulations of the MOA is the submission of a letter of guarantee to the DFA from the Philippine tour operators to guarantee the return of the tour participants.
“To require the submission of a letter of guarantee providing for an undertaking on the part of the Philippine tour operator to be held liable for sanctions and accountable for administrative fines and such other expenses relative to the repatriation of the member of the tour group who failed to leave with the group,” according to the MOA furnished Sun.Star.
Under the MOA, the DOT is required, among others, to issue an endorsement to the BI and the DFA for any tour operator wishing to transact business with tour wholesalers based in the PROC, provided that the local tour operator and the Chinese wholesaler are duly accredited and remain of good standing.
The BI, on the other hand, is required to allow the entry of tour groups with duly issued visas coming from mainland China handled by duly DOT-accredited Philippine tour operators. (JBN)
(October 7, 2004 issue)
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