The Development Academy of the Philippines, through its Center for Governance’s Local Governance and Development Office (LGDO), conducted the Seminar-Workshop on Tourism Development Planning for Local Government Units (LGUs) last November at the Astoria Plaza Hotel and the DAP Conference Center in Pasig City.

Some 52 representatives from 25 LGUs composed of the provinces of Cebu, Guimaras, Palawan,  Cagayan, Surigao del Norte, and Abra; the cities of Zamboanga and Bacoor in Cavite, Tuguegarao; and the municipalities of Sison, Alegria, and Placer in Surigao del Norte; Burauen and La Paz in Leyte; Basco and Sabtang in Batanes; Tuao and Rizal in Cagayan; Taytay and Kalayaan in Palawan; Plaridel and Polillo in Quezon; Buhi in Camarines Sur; Cantilan in Surigao del Sur; and Miagao in Iloilo participated in the said seminar-workshop.  Sato Hirofumi, a DAP intern who is now helping the Quezon City Government, also joined the four-day activity.

The course aims to enhance the knowledge and skills of LGU officials and their staff, particularly the local chief executive, the sanggunian chair on tourism, tourism officer, planning and development coordinator and his staff, and other tourism stakeholders in developing their local tourism development plan.

To appreciate the context of tourism development in the Philippines, Warner Andrada of the Department of Tourism provided the participants an overview of the National Tourism Development Plan 2016-2022.  Andrada stressed the importance of tourism as a huge contributor to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) and  employment rate. He also emphasized the vision of the country’s tourism industry, which is to be “highly competitive, environmentally sustainable and socially responsible” and something that promotes inclusive growth.

To equip the LGUs with the concepts and techniques of developing their respective local tourism development plans, two tourism development experts, Dr. Julie Catherine Paran and Dr. Donna Paz Reyes, shared the processes involved in tourism development planning, including the profiling of the local tourism industry; formulation of the     tourism vision, goals and objectives; identification of the tourism strategies, programs, projects and activities; product development and marketing, and packaging of the plan.

As culminating activity, the participants presented the local tourism development plan concepts that they would also bring to their respective LGUs with the objective of improving their local tourism industry and the industry eventually contributing to the economic, social and environmental development of their areas.

For interested parties who may want to participate in future runs of the tourism planning course, they may      contact the DAP LGDO at (02) 631-2135 or cfg-lgdo@dap.edu.ph. – Narcie Rizal