Mimaropa (Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon, Palawan) is eyeing to conclude its first Regional Tourism Development Plan (RTDP), which will provide its four provinces a clear path in addressing as one the region's gaps in its tourism industry.
“Ngayong 2020 we're really starting (This 2020, we're really starting),” Department of Tourism-Mimaropa regional director Danilo Intong told the Philippine News Agency (PNA) on Monday on the sidelines of the two-day Mimaropa Regional Tourism Summit in Pasay City.
“The regional tourism development will be focused on the tourism goal hindi na (not only on the) vision because we already have the vision,” Intong said.
He said the planned RTDP will be implemented alongside the official National Tourism Development Plan 2016-2022 of the Philippines, with the former more focused on setting specific goals for each province.
“In the first part of 2020, we'll pool all the discussion with the stakeholders. By mid-2020, we should have already introduced that (RTDP),” he added.
In destination development, Intong said there are three components the local government must all consider: socio-cultural, environmental, and economic.
But what is happening in most cases, the focus is more on the economic side than the two other components, he said.
‘Acknowledging gaps'
Intong said stakeholders must recognize the existing gaps in the industry and push for a way to bridge those.
“We need to realize that the gaps are existent and really find ways to bridge these,” he said.
Among these gaps are lack of support facilities and services; access and connectivity through roads and bridges; non-compliances to standards and regulations by establishments to various codes and laws; and disparity of the local government unit's intent and action taken in tourism development.
Intong led the 1st Mimaropa Regional Tourism Summit from November 18 to 19, with most of the ranking local government officials from Romblon, Marinduque, Palawan, Occidental Mindoro, and Oriental Mindoro present.
During the event, these executives learned from experts themselves studies that identified areas in the region's tourism industry that need attention. (Joyce Ann L. Rocamora/PNA)
