Tag Archives: DOT Philippines

The Department of Tourism (DOT) announced Wednesday (January 12) that fully vaccinated tourism workers are now receiving booster shots as an added protection against the heightened threat of the Omicron COVID-19 variant in the country, and with most regions already attaining above 90 percent vaccination rates among active and eligible tourism workers. “We are glad to see the willingness of our tourism workers to get vaccinated grow over the past few months. We continue to encourage them to avail themselves of the free vaccine as this is a critical component for the industry to rebound and thrive in the new normal,” Tourism Secretary Berna Romulo-Puyat said. The tourism chief disclosed that booster COVID-19 shots are now being administered to tourism workers in the National Capital Region (NCR) and Boracay Island. Eventually, booster shots drive for tourism workers will also be rolled out in other tourism destinations like Baguio City and Davao. Based on the DOT NCR Office’s data, 50% or 12,693 out of the region’s 25,386 hotel workers have already received their COVID-19 booster shots. Meanwhile, in Boracay alone, the National Task Force Against COVID-19 (NTF) has committed to allocate 20,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses to be administered as booster shots to the island’s tourism workers. As of the end of 2021, a total of 282,780 individuals, or 88.38 percent of the country’s initial target population of 325,489 tourism workers from various tourism-related industries, have already been inoculated against COVID-19, leaving only 12.17 percent or 38,931 individuals who have yet to receive their first dose.   The inoculated workers, the tourism chief said, are employed in accommodation establishments temporarily operating as isolation/quarantine facilities, regular hotels, tourism enterprises, tourism support services (TSS), …

The Department of Tourism (DOT) has trained over 30,000 tourism professionals, surpassing its targets for such in 2021. Tourism Secretary Berna Romulo-Puyat expressed her satisfaction with the latest numbers noting their continued commitment to support the tourism industry towards its recovery and sustainability. As of 23 December 2021, the DOT has already surpassed its targets, providing necessary training to 30,680 tourism professionals, higher than its 16,000 target threshold.“Through these training programs, the DOT is capacitating our tourism workforce, maintaining service quality and ensuring that that their skills can match the requirements in the new normal” Puyat said. Still, the Department’s target of having at least 45 percent of women trained was likewise achieved with 58 percent while the remaining 42 percent were men. In addition, data from the DOT-Office of Industry Manpower Development or OIMD showed the total number of training in 2021 stood at 677, higher than the recorded 558 year-ago. Advocacy trainings conducted The trainings, which are conducted in coordination with the DOT regional offices also included the Department’s advocacy programs such as Barrier Free Tourism and TourISM WoRCS (Tourism Integrates, Supports and Minds Women’s Rights and Child Safety). Barrier Free Tourism training include topics about disability and autism sensitivity in the industry among others while TourISM WoRCS is designed as a preventive program to mitigate the commercial sexual exploitation of children in the tourism industry. Further, the Department held a webinar entitled TOPCOP in the New Normal 2.0–which focuses on the safety and security of tourists from COVID-19 pandemic where protocols in public areas are discussed. To ensure that our tourism workers and frontliners are also safe during this pandemic and beyond, Basic Occupational Safety and Health Trainings …

The Department of Tourism (DOT) Philippines has pledged its support for the continuity of the infrastructure programme of the Duterte administration, saying it is a big boost to tourism activities in the country. Tourism Secretary Berna Romulo-Puyat made the commitment recently, as she joined President Rodrigo Roa Duterte, Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea, Senator Bong Go, Secretary Arthur Tugade, and Secretary Vince Dizon in inspecting the completed New Terminal Building of the Clark International Airport, which is considered to be part of the legacy of the Duterte administration’s ambitious Build, Build, Build programme. “Having world-class air, land and sea infrastructure such as the Clark Airport will help Philippine tourism bounce back sooner,” Puyat said. The operations and management of the Clark Airport will be overseen by the Luzon International Premiere Airport Development Corporation (LIPAD), a consortium between Changi Airports Philippines Pte. Ltd., Filinvest Development Corporation, JG Summit Holdings, Inc., and Philippine Airport Ground Solutions (PAGSS) Inc. Boosting air connectivity is classified as one of the priorities of the DOT under the National Tourism Development Plan (NTDP) for 2016 to 2022, hence the significance of Clark Airport’s new terminal building completion, Puyat added. Tourist arrivals in Clark Airport totalled 1.98 million in 2019, which dropped to just 494,387 in 2020 and 51,584 in the first half of 2021 because of travel restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Estimated tourist receipts stood at just Php 6.23 billion in 2020 and Php 2.32 billion for far in 2021, a notable reduction from the recorded Php 19.66 billion in 2019. The Department stressed that the fastest way to restore tourism to pre-pandemic levels is to ensure that tourism destinations and establishments comply with the necessary …

A virtual dinner was recently hosted by the Department of Tourism in Philippines for trade partners from the GCC. This informal gathering was a networking exercise to understand the current GCC market and the way forward. As GCC is way ahead of other regions in terms of vaccination drives, it is looking at better summer travel. At the event, SanJeet, Director, Durga Das Publications and Market Representative for the Middle East, shared the current realities in the Middle Eastern market, followed by an address by Daks Gonzales at the Head Office of Product and Market Development, Philippine Department of Tourism – Middle East. Gracing the evening, Verna Esmeralda C. Buensuceso, CESO III Assistant Secretary for Product and Market Development Department of Tourism from the Department of Tourism in the Philippines, expressed her gratitude to those taking time off to attend the event and enjoy the Filipino cuisine. She reiterated the importance of understanding the market at present and shared the various initiatives taken by the Government of the Philippines to ensure safety and rebuild the confidence of the travellers, especially from the Middle East. Leading CEOs from the Middle East attended the event, including Nasir Jamal Khan – Al Naboodah Travel & Tourism Agencies LLC, Jamal Abdul Nazar – Cozmo Travels,  Asim Arshad – Orient Travel & Tourism Agency,  Arshad Munir – SATA, Tarique Katri – Seera, Deepak Rawat – MakeMyTrip, V. Jayaram – Sharaf Travels, Mathew D’Costa – Dnata, Sumit Archarya – BCD Travel, Manu Mehrotra – Al Tayer Travel Agency, Suresh Ahuja – Trans Arabian Air Travel, and Sai Rattan – SNTTA The CEOs presented some very interesting facts about expectations, especially from the side of the locals …

Virtual dinner was hosted by the Department of Tourism in Philippines with trade partners from the GCC. This informal gathering was a networking exercise to understand the current GCC market and the way forward. As GCC is way ahead of the rest in terms of vaccination drive, they are looking at better summer travel. SanJeet Director, Durga Das Publications, Market representative, for Middle East shared the current realities in the Middle Eastern market, followed by Daks Gonzales Head Office of Product and Market Development, Philippine Department of Tourism – Middle East. Gracing the evening ,Verna Esmeralda C. Buensuceso, CESO III Assistant Secretary for Product and Market Development Department of Tourism from the Department of Tourism in the Philippines expressed her gratitude for taking time off to attend the event and enjoy the Filipino cuisine especially for the trade partners. She reiterated the importance to understand the market at present and shared the various initiatives taken by the government of Philippines to ensure safety and rebuild the confidence of the travellers especially from the Middle East. Leading CEO’s from the Middle East attended the event with Nasir Jamal Khan – Al Naboodah Travel & Tourism Agencies LLC, Jamal Abdul Nazar – Cozmo Travels,  Asim Arshad – Orient Travel & Tourism Agency,  Arshad Munir – SATA, Tarique Katri – Seera, Deepak Rawat – Make My Trip, V. Jayaram – Sharaf Travels, Mathew D’Costa – Dnata, Sumit Archarya – BCD Travel, Manu Mehrotra – Al Tayer Travel Agency, Suresh Ahuja – Trans Arabian Air Travel, and Sai Rattan – SNTTA The CEOs presented some very interesting facts about the expectations especially from the side of the locals in UAE and KSA as key …