Cebu and Bohol getting cash grant from DOT

CEBU, Philippines - Cebu and Bohol will  be the pilot areas for the launching of a $7.1-million technical assistance grant from the Department of Tourism this month.

DOT-7 Regional Director Wilma Montecillo said that the technical assistance grant is intended to help boost industry competitiveness starting from this year until 2016.

The said grant, according to Montecillo, came from the Government of Canada, through the Canadian International Development Agency, with Asian Development Bank as the administering agency.

The said grant is dubbed as ADB-CIDA Technical Assistance on Improving Competitiveness in Tourism, which was formalized in a Memorandum of Agreement signing last April 10.

Among the projects proposed under the grant are skills training programs for the private sector, local government units and civil society as well as DOT agencies, according to Montecillo.

She added that also included in the grant is the pilot implementation  of  the new system of accreditation and the development standards for service quality.

In DOT’s press statement, the ADB-CIDA program is envisioned  to create more employment opportunities and advancement for the local workforce, as well as provide local government  units with better capacity to improve their regulations in attracting more investments and tourism activities.

Montecillo said that the technical assistance was an outcome of the World Economic Forum, which recognizes the Philippines as the “most improved country” in its 2013 Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index.

The Philippines is up 12 spots from 94th in 2011 to 82nd in 2012 out of 139 countries, according to DOT. The said index measures the factors and policies that contribute to the attractiveness to develop the travel and tourism in different countries.

In a press statement, DOT Secretary Ramon Jimenez said that the gesture of the Canadian government and the ADB is in recognition of the role of tourism as a key driver of economic development in the country.

He added that the ADB-CIDA technical assistance is in line with the strategic directions of the National Tourism Development Plan, which will help improve  tourism institutional governance and human resource capacities.

Over a four-year period, he believed that the technical assistance will result to three key outputs, which include regulatory review, service standards improvement and skills development.

Aside from Cebu and Bohol, the same project will also be launched in Palawan and Davao.  —/BRP (FREEMAN)