ILOILO CITY — Potential areas of collaboration between Iloilo and the Department of Tourism (DOT) are in the pipeline, highlighting the booming tourism industry.
Tourism Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco met with Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas for a courtesy meeting where they tackled partnerships on tourism infrastructure and route development initiatives for Iloilo to attract more visitors.
Frasco was here in Iloilo City on April 5 during the National Tourism Development Plan (NTDP) 2023-2028 rollout for the Visayas cluster.
In the agency’s Facebook post, the DOT chief revealed that Iloilo was the “most appropriate venue” to roll out the NTDP, also known as “The Plan,” seeing the bullish prospects that the city and province have in terms of tourism development that are being prioritized by the local government units.
“So, I come here with great admiration for all the initiatives and also with our collective congratulations for your recent designation as a UNESCO Creative City for Gastronomy,” Secretary Frasco told Mayor Treñas.
To note, Iloilo City’s delectable Ilonggo cuisines, marked by flavors of culture and creativity, paved the way to UNESCO’s recognition as the country’s first Creative City for Gastronomy.
It is now part of the 350 cities in more than 100 countries listed on the UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN) in the fields of crafts and folk arts, design, film, gastronomy, literature, media arts, and music.
Frasco also invited Treñas and the city council to attend the hosting of the Philippines to the first United Nations Tourism Regional Gastronomy Forum which will be held in Cebu in June, as the country also boosts its gastronomy tourism portfolio.
For his part, Treñas lauded the efforts of the DOT, saying that “programs of a city or a department can only be implemented successfully if you have good people.”
The rollout of the NDTP, on the other hand, serves as the national government’s blueprint for establishing a Philippine tourism industry that delves into Filipino culture, heritage, and identity in the next five years.
According to DOT, this also functions as a guidebook of the industry on how to put sustainability mechanisms in place, as well as to ensure that the industry is robust and globally competitive.
“In the spirit of President Marcos’ economic aspirations for the Philippines, the NTDP is not just the plan, but a dynamic framework that requires all of us, our active engagement from policymaking to grassroots implementation,” Frasco said.
Inputs from stakeholders across the country, such as the DOT, its offices and attached agencies, other national government offices, various local governments, including those from tourism destinations, private sector representatives from various industry groups, academe, and non-governmental organizations, formed part in the development of the NTDP.
The plan aims to generate livelihood opportunities for 6.3 million Filipinos by 2028, which is nearly a share of 12.9 percent of the country’s total workforce.
Meanwhile, Iloilo Provincial Governor Arthur R. Defensor, Jr. conveyed his support for the rollout of the NTDP 2023-2028 in the Visayas cluster, quoting that the province is all set to collaborate with the DOT.
“We are very thankful for this rollout because our work here today is to see where we are in this National Development Plan and our role and participation in this tourism development plan of the Department of Tourism,” Defensor said. (AAL/LMLE/PIA Iloilo/DOT)
