Geographically, Siquijor is going to be the choice of tourists in the Philippines, said Vice Governor Mei Ling Quezon Brown in her message during the first day of the training.
She assured the stakeholders of the Provincial Government’s support to the tourism programs and projects as she acknowledged that tourism is the main economic driver of the province.
“We rally behind all efforts we can do to make sure that we recover and live with the new normal,” Brown said, while expressing confidence that the tourism industry will spur economic growth.
Modules 1 to 5, which includes Introduction to Tourism Destination Resilience, Risk Assessment, Destination Management Strategy, Emergency Planning, Post-Crisis Planning: Respond, Rethink, Recover were done on March 9-10.
Meanwhile, Modules 6 to 10 on Training and Capacity Building, Resilient Infrastructure and Services, Local and Regional Market Supply and Demand, Tourism Offer Diversification, and Sustainability as a Competitive Advantage were held on March 30-31.
In one of his lectures, Costas said destinations are vulnerable to risks that can be related to the environment, the economy, health and safety, communities and visitors, so it is crucial for DMOs to implement management strategies to ensure continuity and normal operations.
He stressed the need to partner with stakeholders to create crisis management plans, systems, and procedures to respond to any crisis correctly and precisely.
Costas said destinations need to know the hazards, determine their risk level, institutionalize risk management strategies, and increase adaptive capacity to achieve resilience.
Reyes-Mencias, on the other hand, discussed the many facets of tourism and its impact on the community and urged all tourism stakeholders to seriously think, plan well, and align tourism development to building a resilient tourism industry.
The training incudes a series of workshops and the signing of “Pledge for the Future.” (RAC/PIA7 Siquijor)
