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Friday, June 16, 2006
DOT’s Roa asks media to withhold ‘bad’ news
Department of Tourism (DOT) 7 Director Aurora Patria Roa is urging the Cebu media, among others, to be responsible and not to air or print unverified reports, especially if these would have negative effects on the province’s economy.
“Its your call (to publish or not to publish). But if you have doubts, please don’t publish,” she told a press conference for the Tourism Congress at the Marco Polo Plaza Hotel yesterday.
Terrorists
Roa was reacting to news reports stating that Mandaue City Mayor Tha-deo Ouano received intelligence information that there are at least 80 terrorists here in Cebu.
“It is an intelligence report and we all know that intelligence reports are raw data. They need to be verified. This must not be released to media yet, especially if it would create a negative image of Cebu,” she said.
Roa recalled that a few years ago a local daily carried on its front page a news article based on an intelligence report, which revealed that Cebu City will be bombed by terrorists.
“I was so angry with the report because it was on that day when many Japanese arrived in Cebu at Shangri-La. Good thing they didn’t understand English,” she said.
Roa said foreign tourists, especially the Japanese, are very sensitive to issues concerning their safety and security.
Kidnapping
The Japanese had been on top of Cebu’s list of foreign arrivals until the kidnapping incident in Palawan few years back, which prompted the Japanese Government to issue a travel advisory against the Philippines.
She said local tourism stakeholders have been trying to bring back the confidence of the Japanese in Cebu and in the Philippines, in general.
Roa said the DOT is expecting more Japanese tourists to come to the country this year after the agency’s successful sales mission trips to Japan and Korea, where delegates, led by DOT Secretary Joseph “Ace” Durano, promoted Cebu, Manila and Bohol, among others.
She said the lack of rooms in five-star resorts in Cebu still is one of the concerns of Japanese tour operators.
“They wanted to set charter flights from Nagoya to Cebu but they (Japanese tour operators) have not confirmed bookings. They are looking for five-star resorts,” Roa said. (JBN)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (June 16, 2006 issue)
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