“Tourism is a showroom of peace at work. When skirmishes become endemic, natural resources abused and poverty unabated, tourists will find a reason not to come.”
Arturo P. Boncato, Jr, regional director of the Department of Tourism (DOT) stated this in opening the Davao Region Tourism Marketing Conference and Planning Workshop last November 9-10 at the Apo View Hotel, Davao City.
Tourism leaders from the DOT, Davao Region Tourism Council and Davao Association of Tour Operators, and representatives of the private sector attended the two-day event, which was intended to have a look at the region’s industry, products, and existing markets.
“We will have peace of mind that all is well and could only get better as we work in unison, one heart, and one mind,” Boncato said, addressing the delegates from different municipalities and cities in the region.
With the help of the inputs given by Ma. Corazon “Junjun” Jorda-Apo, head of Team North America, and Warner Andrada, chief of the Office of Product and Research and Development, the participants were able to draft a marketing plan for 2011 during the workshop.
Speaking at the Club 888 Forum at The Marco Polo Davao last November 10, Boncato said the conference and workshop aimed for industry people to un-clutter their minds and develop critical thinking to focus on the products, their markets, and action for growth.
“The workshop aimed to come up with clustering and specialization of products per category thus proper positioning can be done. The product development concerns must be addressed as well as to meet the market’s needs,” he added.
The activity also gave the private sector an opportunity to have a hand in the planning and validation of the tour programs, according to Mary Ann Montemayor, chair of the Davao Region Tourism Council.
“We see this as a perfect private-public partnership that could speedily spur growth in the industry,” she added.
A tourism circuit, dubbed “One Davao,” a tour program of connectivity and complementation of tourism products is hoped to be established by the Davao region with an updated inventory of products and looking into their niche markets. This was according to Christin Dompor, president of Davao Region Tourism Officers Association, during the Club 888 forum.
Dompor added that they will focus their promotion domestically by tapping schools to engage in environmental science tours so that local communities will be able to appreciate their tourism products before promoting them to foreign markets.
“We match our existing products with our existing markets. And by knowing where we are, we will know how to position our products on our markets, Boncato said. [WITH PNA REPORT]
There were several presentations by cities and municipalities during the workshop. Among the list of products, each municipality or city identified the top three in each category, such as holiday and leisure, eco-adventure and MICE (meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions).
“It is the municipality or the local government which will let us know what product to position because at the end of the day, it is the community that will develop the products. It will be the role of the department to coordinate, facilitate and prepare communication plans like advertisements, press releases, and fun trips,” Boncato said.
Meanwhile, Dompor pointed out that with the workshop they would be able to come up with an updated inventory of products matched with their market even as she hoped that the Davao region will come up with a tourism circuit which is a tour program of connectivity and complementation of tourism products in the region.
She said they will package tourism products into one program linking Davao City to the other cities of the region, the provinces and municipalities.
However, she said, before they could promote their offerings to other markets, they focused their promotion domestically by tapping particularly schools and the academe in their locality for them to see and experience their own tourism products.
Montemayor, on the other hand, said they now have a good team from both sectors to help focus on what they call the “good news” in the tourism industry.
She also said that through the conference, with inputs shared by both sectors, they would be able to unclutter the industry people’s minds and promote critical thinking to focus on the products, markets and action for growth.
She added that they were able to come up with clustering and specializations of products per category so proper positioning could be done and product development concerns must be addressed to meet the market’s needs.
“The conference and workshop gave the private sector an opportunity to have a hand in the planning and validation of the tour programs.
Montemayor said they see it as a Private-Public Sector Partnership (PPP) that could speedily spur the growth of the industry.
