IT IS heartening to note that the major and minor players in Davao’s tourism industry are obviously putting their acts together to improve the attractiveness of the region to visitors, and investors. The bullishness of local government units in doing their share in the task by crafting and implementing their own tourism programs is just as encouraging. All these augur well for the grand plan to make tourism one of the three top priorities of economic development in the region, the two being agriculture and ICT (information and communication technology).
One who has gone around the four provinces and five cities of the region will realize that we have among the best tourist destinations in the country and efforts to develop their full potentials are underway. Looking at the sprouting beach and inland resorts, an observer gets the feeling that the usual timid moneyed locals have been convinced to invest in the development of tourist plants. Add to these, the big players from outside are already here, pouring in billions of pesos in ventures such as condominiums, hotels, malls and similar high-end facilities.
What remains to be problematic is the negative image that Davao suffers from, for being part of Mindanao. It is therefore hoped the plan of the Department of Tourism Region 11 under Regional Director Art Boncato to embark on a massive information offensive can take off, even with the usual perfunctory support from Manila principals.
Truth to tell, there’s so much positive data and developments about Davao City and environs, but sad to say they usually do not get the maximum exposure they deserve. There’s really a need to draw up a deliberate program to surface the good news, not so much to drown out the negative ones, but rather to give balanced reporting a chance. Yes, with the positive given equal play. This is important because the human mind tends to be attracted by the negative – a climate wherein adversarial journalism, which we copied from the west, thrives well in a democracy like the Philippines.
Director Art should pursue his plan to utilize the new media in launching a massive propaganda campaign for tourism in his region. New media, made up of the many different forms of electronic communication such as Web sites, streaming audio and video, chat rooms, e-mail, online communities, Web advertising, blogs and social networking, is definitely a very creative platform of promoting tourist destinations. Yes, because old media like newspapers and magazine mostly already have their own e-paper versions and have stopped relying on their hard copies.
Dabawenyos, all Mindanawons for that matter who have long endured this negative image problem, wish Mr. Boncato all the luck in the world to succeed in his ambitious project. And rightly so, because the problem cuts across all sectors, not just tourism. It adversely affects investments and development efforts as well. Yes, nobody profits from Mindanao’s distorted image except the nihilists and the anti-social.
