The Department of Tourism (DOT) is eyeing $400M in Official Development Assistance (ODA) from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the World Bank under a program called as Resilient, Inclusive and Sustainable Tourism or TouRIST program. The agency aims to use said funds to strengthen livelihood, infrastructure, and services in key tourism destinations in the Philippines.
“The TouRIST program will be a vehicle for us to implement a coordinated effort between the various government organizations and instrumentalities and realize sustainable tourism development,” Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat said.
The DOT said that it will use the $300M funds given by the World Bank to develop Bohol, Davao City, the Samal Islands, Siargao, and Siquijor. As for the ADB’s $100M assistance, it will be put to good use in Coron and El Nido.
“Both international funding agencies were enthusiastic about the DOT’s TouRIST program when it was presented to them and have committed to give their financial assistance to it,” the DOT said.
The $400M financial assistance is split into two different loan packages to be undertaken by the national government. Secretary Romulo-Puyat stated that said funds will “enhance tourism infrastructure”. A grant component would be given for the “livelihood, disaster risk reduction and crisis management, and tourism policy and regulation [components]” to supplement the loans.
The Tourism Secretary explained further that, “we can keep promoting these destinations, but if they don’t have the proper infrastructure, are unable to manage disasters and crises, or the people don’t benefit from jobs that are tied to the tourism activities in the area, then we are not really uplifting tourism and its targeted beneficiaries.” In this way, Secretary Romulo-Puyat noted that tourism development will have a more “holistic approach”.
According to the National Tourism Development Plan for 2016-2022, the DOT aims to increase foreign visitor arrivals to reach 12 million and inbound tourism receipts to hit P992 billion by 2022. The agency is also hoping for 6.5 million tourism jobs to be created from the TouRIST program by 2022.
The TouRIST program of the DOT will be supervised by the Tourism Coordinating Council (TCC). Under the Republic Act 9593 or the Tourism Act of 2009, the TCC is to serve as the coordinating body concerning national tourism development efforts.
With additional reports from: Philippines Star, Business Mirror
Photo Sources: breakingnews.travel, businessmirror.com.ph
