Despite Boracay’s temporary closure to tourists, the Philippines has alternative fine beaches and destinations to offer, and Congress is paving the way for the promotion and preservation of these tourist spots.
More than a hundred bills and resolutions are pending in different committees in the House of Representatives seeking to promote the best tourist destinations in Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao. The lower chamber has also endorsed several tourism bills to the Senate for approval.
House Committee on Tourism Chairman Lucy Torres-Gomez of the Fourth District ofLeyte, however, said the government must first protect these destinations from environmental issues through the passage of several measures, including House Bill (HB) 7229, or the proposed “Philippine Sustainable Tourism Act.”
Gomez, who wrote the bill, said her committee has endorsed HB 7229 for plenary approval to address the Filipino people’s clamor for action, especially on issues of environmental degradation, public health and intractable tourism business growth, which happened in Boracay.
President Duterte earlier described Boracay, a resort island in the province of Aklan in Western Visayas, as a “cesspool.” Then the President ordered the closure of Boracay, which attracts about 2 million tourists every year, for six months starting on April 26 to allow the island’s rehabilitation.
Gomez said sustainable tourism is no longer a choice but the new global norm.
“The Philippine Sustainable Tourism Act will offer a paradigm shift from our old ways of doing business in the tourism industry,” Gomez said. “We must band together to protect the industry that has helped lift our country’s GDP growth.”
The United Nations World Tourism Organization (WTO) defines sustainable tourism as: “Tourism that takes full account of its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment and host communities.”
Under the bill, the responsibility of achieving and maintaining “sustainable tourism” shall be given to qualified representatives of all relevant stakeholders of the tourism industry.
The measure said an assembly of such stakeholder representation shall be immediately convened, and will be called the “Philippine Sustainable Tourism Council.”
Among the tasks of the Philippine Sustainable Tourism Council are to establish a unified definition of sustainable tourism; establish goals to achieve and maintain sustainable tourism; and integrate all existing laws pertaining to the tourism industry in various areas that influence the sustainability of the industry.
Likewise, the Philippine Sustainable Tourism Council is mandated to create the necessary policies and regulations to achieve national sustainable tourism goals; institute a system for accountability to systematically enforce the Act; and generate procedure for mainstreaming sustainable tourism laws and their enforcement at all levels.
Moreover, Gomez said another measure that her committee endorsed for plenary approval is HB 6093, which seeks to create the Tourism Resiliency Certification Program (TRCP).
The bill aims to prevent, mitigate and control possible damages arising from risks or threats to the tourism industry, such as violence, terrorism, and environmental degradation and climate change.
The measure refers the TRCP as a program that identifies risks to the country’s tourism industry; prescribes compliance measures; establishes an appropriate
metric system to determine certain
acceptable levels of compliance; and mandates the compliance of prescribed measures by all registered tourism enterprises (RTEs).
The bill said the creation of the program shall be undertaken by a technical working group, to be participated by representatives of all pertinent stakeholders, and to be spearheaded by the Department of Tourism (DOT). The creation of the Philippine Tourism Risk Assessment Framework shall be conducted by a qualified international consulting agency, under the supervision of the DOT.
Moreover, the measure declares the paramount importance of protecting the tourism industry, one of the major drivers of socioeconomic development in the Philippines, by supporting its fundamental performance indicators. These indicators include the number of foreign and local visitors, earnings from foreign expenditure, product development and capital expenditure, among others.
The bill provides that the TRCP shall create a Philippine Tourism Risk Assessment Framework, which shall identify actual and potential risks to the tourism industry, such as terrorism, violence, natural
calamities, extreme weather and other perceived threats.
Protection
The House Committee on Tourism has also approved a substitute bill seeking to create an intergovernmental task force for the protection and assistance of tourists in the country.
The bill substituted HB 2963 filed by Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo of the Second District of Pampanga, seeking to establish an intergovernmental task force for international visitor assistance, and HB 1828 by Rep. Alfred Vargas of the Fifth District of Quezon City, seeking to prevent the harassment of tourists in the country.
Arroyo said the country’s tourism industry has been a consistent source of foreign-exchange earnings and employment opportunities. It also promotes international goodwill and showcases the rich and colorful sociocultural life of Filipinos.
“Creating such task force will make the Philippines a premier travel and tourism destination,” Arroyo said. Vargas said preventing the harassment of tourists will ensure their pleasant stay in the country, hence securing the development of the country’s tourism industry and its contribution to economic development.
Within 90 days after the approval of the proposed “Tourist Protection and Assistance Act,” the secretary of the DOT shall establish an intergovernmental task force, to be known as the Tourist Protection and Assistance Task Force.
Through the concerned national government agencies and local government units (LGUs), the Tourist Protection and Assistance Task Force shall have the following
duties: adopt uniform standards on signage for use throughout the Philippines to facilitate travel around the country; provide directional signage in tourism facilities and destinations, including airports, land border crossings and bus train, and other public transit locations; and prepare and disseminate multilingual travel and tourism information and promotional materials.
Moreover, the task force shall: establish a toll-free telephone assistance system run by multilingual operators to provide assistance to domestic and foreign tourists; coordinate with LGUs the establishment of tourist help desks in identified tourist destinations; and institute measures to prevent unlawful acts or harassment being committed on tourists.
Aggressive campaigner Rep. Luis Raymund F. Villafuerte Jr. of the Second District of Camarines Sur said the DOT should now undertake an aggressive marketing campaign to sell the Philippines’ other prime tourist spots.
Villafuerte said the DOT, the local government units and the private sector should work together on new marketing strategies to sell the Philippines as Asia’s premier ecotourism and adventure sports hub.
He added the DOT can take advantage of the country’s natural attractions and the Filipinos’s famed hospitality and relative fluency in English to market the Philippines as an ecotourism haven.
Citing the example of Camarines Sur, Villafuerte said the success of the tourism sector in the province was anchored on its promotion and development as a sports and adventure destination. He said promoting a site as a sports tourism hub has a higher probability of tourists returning to the area because they have to train there to improve their skills.
He added that given the right tools, the DOT would not find it difficult to sustain the Philippines’s growing number of foreign tourist arrivals even with the closure of Boracay Island, given that even authoritative and respected online publications, such as forbes.com, have acknowledged the country as among Asia’s booming tourist locations owing to improvements in infrastructure and land, air and sea connectivity.
Tourism bills
Meanwhile, among the pending tourism bills are:
■ An Act declaring the municipality of Barlig in Mountain Province as Tourism Development area and appropriating funds therefor (pending in the Senate).
■ An Act declaring Pilis Falls in Barangay Palili in Bataan as ecotourism site and appropriating funds therefor (pending in the Senate).
■ An Act declaring the municipality of Jovellar in Albay as an ecotourism zone and appropriating funds therefor (pending in the Senate).
■ An Act declaring city of Butuan a heritage tourism zone and appropriating funds therefor (pending in the Senate).
■ An Act declaring the province of La Union as a tourist destination and the “Surfing Capital of the North” (pending in the Senate).
■ An Act providing for the establishment of Lingayen Gulf Marine Eco-Tourism Park in Pangasinan and
appropriating funds therefor (pending in the Senate).
■ An Act declaring Manok-Manok Island in Masbate as an ecotourism site and appropriating funds therefor (pending in the Senate).
■ An Act declaring La Mesa Dam Ecopark in Quezon City as a tourism site (pending in the House Committee on Tourism).
■ An Act declaring the Lantawan Ecopark in Agusan del Norte as a priority tourism site and appropriating funds therefor (pending in the Senate).
■ An Act declaring the Mapaso-Hot and Cold Spring in Agusan del Norte as a priority tourism site and appropriating funds therefor (pending in the Senate).
■ An Act declaring the Sagrada Familia Cave in Zambales as an ecotourism zone and appropriating funds therefor (pending in the House Committee on Appropriations).
■ An Act declaring the Mount Pinatubo in Zambales as an ecotourism zone and appropriating funds therefor (pending in the House Committee on Appropriations).
■ An Act declaring the province of Misamis Oriental a tourism development area and appropriating funds therefor (pending in the Senate).
■ An Act declaring the province of Lanao del Norte a tourism development area and appropriating funds therefor (pending in the Senate).
■ An Act declaring the Limasawa Tourism Development Authority (pending in the House Committee on Tourism).
■ An Act declaring the Candon City eco tourism zone in Ilocos Sur and appropriating funds therefor (pending in the Senate).
■ An Act declaring the province of Leyte a tourism zone and appropriating funds therefor (pending in the Senate).
■ An act declaring Pag-asa Island cluster in Palawan as ecotourism destination and protect area and appropriating funds therefor (pending in the House Committee on Tourism).
■ An Act declaring the Kaparkan Fall in Abra as an ecotourism site and appropriating funds therefor (pending in the House Committee on Tourism).
■ An Act declaring Siargao and Bucas Grande Islands in the Surigao del Norte as an ecotourism zone and appropriating funds therefor (pending in the House Committee on Tourism).
Rep. Geraldine B. Roman of the First Distric of Bataan, one of the authors of these tourism bills, said it is the policy of state to accord priority status to sustainable, vibrant and profitable tourism development as one of the engines of socioeconomic growth and cultural affirmation to generate investment, foreign exchange and employment. “In today’s growth trend, the problem of unemployment remains unresolved.Tourism-related sector is becoming an increasingly important source of economic prosperity by way creating job opportunities,” Roman said.
Also, Rep. Fernando V. Gonzales of the Third District of Albay said Tourism Act of 2009 declared tourism as an indispensable element of the national economy and an industry of national interest and importance, which must be harnessed as an engine of
socioeconomic growth and cultural affirmation to generate investment, foreign exchange and employment and to continue to mold an enhanced sense of national pride for all Filipinos.