BUSINESS owners in Yolanda-hit Ormoc City will be pushing for One Visayas tourism campaign to help underexposed tourism destinations, especially in Eastern Visayas, gain global attraction.
Ormoc Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Jude Abenoja said tourism could be one of the major gateways for investments to reach the island provinces of Eastern Visayas.
Discussions on tourism is one of the highlights of the three-day Visayas Area Business Conference on Sept. 14 to 16 in Ormoc City. The team has invited Tourism Secretary to Wanda Teo as a resource speaker for one of the sessions.
Abenoja also announced that the chamber has the support of the Department of Interior and Local Government’s (DILG) through an endorsement requesting all local government officials in the 17 provinces to attend the business conference as part of their official business travel.
Abenoja said the gathering will be an opportunity for the public and private sectors to discuss the growth opportunities in the Visayas. Ormoc City, on the other hand, hopes to get a good share of exposure as it hosts the conference for the first time.
Although Visayas is now known as the country’s new typhoon belt, the business community in Eastern Visayas remains optimistic it will remain a tourist and investment drawer.
“We are taking advantage of the momentum. We have a President who is so keen about diversifying development from big cities to the regions,” said Abenoja.
Moreover, the business community is confident that more tourism projects will be given priority to emerging regions, especially that some local officials from the Visayas, like Rep. Lucy Torres-Gomez, was named chair of the House tourism committee.
Abenoja said the Visayas is in the best position to promote its provinces as trade and tourism destinations.
Two years ago, three regions in the Visayas came together to promote diving tourism and other tourism-related activities to provide more options and to lengthen foreign tourists’ stay in the country.
Region 6,7 and 8 have united to come up with one tourism campaign to market the Visayas as a diving destination in the international market through the One Visayas tourism platform.
Diving has become a priority area in tourism promotion because it is common for the three regions, said Department of Tourism (DOT) 7 Director Rowena Montecillo in past interviews. The One Visayas campaign, though, is not limited to diving but also to other leisure activities.
Meanwhile, Leyte Gov. Leopoldo Dominico Petilla was quoted in reports saying he is proposing a tourism hub to intensify the tourism promotion in Eastern Visayas.
Petilla said his office will seek the help of and collaborate with the DOT in stepping up the promotion of tourism in Eastern Visayas, including its declaration as a regional tourism zone.