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Thursday, July 06, 2006
Bohol, DTI eye means to boost local tourism
IN ITS effort to make the province an international tourism hub, Bohol has decided to address issues that have hampered the full development of its tourism sector.
Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) 7 Director Asteria Caberte said her office, together with concerned local governments and the private sector in Bohol, are looking into possible solutions to issues, such as the lack of contiguous land between 20 hectares and 50 hectares in Panglao Island.
“Bohol is now recognized as one of the premier tourist destination spots in the Philippines. A number of big players have come to Bohol looking for opportunities, particularly in Panglao,” she said.
Nightmare
“Unfortunately, right now, acquiring land in Panglao and Bohol, in general, is a legal nightmare because of ownership issues among heirs. For example, when you want to purchase one hectare of land in Panglao, you have to deal with five to 10 owners,” she said in an interview.
The lack of contiguous large tract of land in Panglao is also one of the reasons the area has yet to be declared a tourism zone.
Caberte said this issue, among others, will be discussed during the Bohol Investment Forum on July 22 in Tagbilaran City.
During the event, local landowners who have agreed to consolidate their properties to come up with the required lot size will be matched with investors, she said.
Bohol was able to attract some 187,981 local and foreign visitors last year. Foreign tourists that frequent the province include Europeans, Koreans, Japanese and Chinese.
Caberte said the Bohol Provincial Government, led by Gov. Erico Aumentado, is active in promoting the province’s tourism sector, among others, to foreign direct investors.
Earlier, Department of Tourism (DOT) 7 Regional Director Aurora Patria Roa said the rise of Bohol province as a tourism destination is not a threat to Cebu’s tourism industry.
“There is no competition between Bohol and Cebu. Each is complementing the other. It has always been Cebu-Bohol. Bohol, like other provinces in the region, needs Cebu—the gateway of the region. Cebu, on the other hand, needs Bohol to enhance itself as a tourist destination,” she said.
Concepts
Region 7 is composed of Bohol, Cebu, Oriental Negros and Siquijor.
Caberte said pre-investment concepts for Bohol are being prepared by DTI 7 and will be presented during the investors forum.
Among the proposed concepts are: business-leisure park with commercial spaces; entertainment dining strip; vantage points with tourist services; craft village as a tourist shop; Boholano specialty shop to be established in the US; health and wellness; and e-services.
She said Bohol has a dynamic business sector represented by the Bohol Chamber of Commerce and Industry with more than 130 members. It also has the so-called “big three” taipans, namely, First Consolidated Bank owner Richard Uy, Island City Mall owner Marlito Uy and Bohol Quality mall owner Fred Ong. (JBN)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (July 6, 2006 issue)
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