THE Department of Tourism (DOT) is looking into having a 15 percent share of boost in tourism as it focuses on promising opportunities from the faith sector.
DOT Director for Faith Tourism Rebecca Villanueva-Labit said in an interview that it is high time the bureau opened opportunities on faith tourism sector with the abundance of destinations catering to different religions in the country.
“Safely we can expect an increase in the arrival of more than 15 percent. That is a very polite and minimum [expectation],” she said, adding that it shall take time to promote and for people to accept the new activities.
Tour packages for pilgrimages
This September, the DOT is eyeing to complete the consultation on all 16 regions and gather all the stakeholders to finalize the faith tourism destinations.
It is aimed to complete and consolidate all the information and data during the series of consultations scheduled this year. From this comes the creation and organization of a tour package per five pilot areas, namely, Northern Luzon, Southern Luzon, the Visayas, Mindanao and NCR.
“The instruction of the secretary is to look into the faith sector and be able to create tour packages that would encompass religion kung ano man ang preference mo [whatever your preference is],” Labit said.
DOT is looking into intertwining the faith sector with farm tourism and ecotourism, which the bureau is also focusing on this year.
Labit highlights that the pilgrimages created will cater to one’s satisfaction of the body, mind, spirit and the stomach.
Moreover, she notes that these consultations helped in affirming the support of religious groups.
Promoting peace, unity
LABIT details that, at the onset, there were a few apprehensions about the idea of opening faith tourism destinations and tour packages in certain regions. However, as their workshop continued, they welcomed the idea of promoting peace, love and unity through the faith sector.
“We are trying to be very careful kasi ayaw din namin na ma-take advantage ‘yung opportunity na ito and gusto lang ng iba is to earn profit [We don’t want people to take advantage of this opportunity by others who only want to earn profit],” Labit added. She also noted that the DOT respects groups who decline to participate due to certain religious beliefs.
Despite the Philippines being the bastion of Catholicism in Asia, the DOT is eyeing on promoting tour packages linked with other religions like Islam and Buddhism, not to mention the religions present in indigenous tribes sprawled across the archipelago. The DOT stands on strong common ground that it has with religious groups and the faith sector.
“[Our assertion is that] What is important is we believe in one supreme being. We believe in peace. We all believe in spreading love,” she said.
The DOT has long been seeing the potential of the country for faith tourism with the abundance of religious sites nationwide and the dominant Catholicism in the country observed in various festivals and traditions.
Just this Holy Week, the DOT noted an increase in tourist visitors in the Walled City of Intramuros. With over 1.4 million visitors, the DOT sees this as a green flag to make Intramuros a regular pilgrimage, as its controlled environment had zero incident reports during the Lenten season.
Intramuros houses religious sites, such as the Manila Cathedral, San Agustin Church, San Ignacio Church site and Guadalupe Shrine in Fort Santiago, to name a few.