DOT to strengthen Phl tourism workforce

CEBU, Philippines - The Department of Tourism (DOT) targets to train at least 5,000 tourism workers and to certify 500 tourism professionals under the ASEAN Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MRA), following the technical assistance program financed by the Government of Canada in partnership with the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

This is among the several targets DOT is trying to achieve by 2016, under the “Competitiveness in Tourism” program through the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and ADB as the administering agencies.

In his presentation during the official launching of the project, DOT assistant secretary for tourism development planning Rolando Canizal said that among the objectives of the program is to develop a strong tourism workforce in the Philippines and make the country as well as its tourism professionals ready for the ASEAN integration.

 With the help of international experts that will be deployed under the US$7.1 million program in tourism competitiveness, the Philippines tourism workforce is expected to enter into the international playing field standard.

Canizal said part of the proposed technical assistance is the “tourism industry skills development program” that will include the upgrading of vocational skills and competency in the industry.

Local government units (LGUs) and civil society organizations are also part of the target beneficiaries of the training grants.

Canizal said DOT will lead in the analysis and planning in consultation with the industry stakeholders to review and suggest revisions to the quality and management of tourism industry training.

Experts will also assist DOT in strengthening industry and institutional links, such as developing human resource development plan that can be updated annually, and establish the financial management system, operations manual and grant agreements with recipients, and administer the pilot skills grant scheme.

The skills grant scheme will provide two windows through which industry partnered with accredited training providers can access grants to skills development initiatives.

The scheme aims to provide employers and training providers with resources to improve skills and services.

The first window will be the private sector window for tourism employers in hotels, resorts, tour agencies and other tourism providers. The second window will be for LGUs and civil society groups.

Funding for LGUs will relate to tourism planning, LGU support services and regulatory review programs. Funding for civil society groups, meanwhile, will relate to training workers and informal workers in community-based tourism projects and youth for life skills program.

The skills grant will be allocated on a competitive basis, based on project proposals to be evaluated using agreed indicators.

According to Canizal, DOT will establish a national skills tourism project committee to oversee implementation of the skills development program and selection of grant recipients.      The skills development program will be piloted in Bohol, Cebu, Davao and Palawan.

In each pilot, regional tourism skills project committee will be established, comprising staff from DOT offices in the localities and industry representatives to champion skills development in the pilot regions.

Also included is the pilot implementation of the new system of accreditation and the development of standards for service quality.  

The ADB-CIDA project is envisioned to create more employment opportunities and advancement for the local workforce, as well as provide LGUs with better capacity to improve regulations in attracting more investments and tourism activities./JMD (FREEMAN)