TOURISM Secretary Christina Garcia-Frasco on Monday (May 13) led the opening salvo of a series of panel discussions, formally commencing this year’s Go Negosyo’s Tourism Summit at the Ayala Malls by the Bay.
The Tourism Chief joined the esteemed company of travel and tourism industry leaders comprised of Michelle Ho, General Manager of Klook Philippines and Thailand; Captain Stanley Ng, President & Chief Operating Officer of Philippine Airlines; and Jeff Navarro, Country Manager, Visa Philippines, as they delved into the strategies and practices needed to make businesses thrive in the tourism industry in the Philippines, discussing emerging trends, challenges, and innovative solutions.
Presenting the Philippine Tourism Agenda, Secretary Frasco prefaced her talk with the emerging trends prevailing in the ASEAN tourism where the Philippines occupies a prominent role as the lead country coordinator in crafting the post-2025 strategic tourism plan for the ASEAN nations.
Secretary Frasco emphasized how the Administration of President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. has put quality tourism front and center, prioritizing more meaningful connections and purpose-driven travel.
“That is why under the Marcos administration, the focus has been to spread tourism development to as many destinations as possible. And of course, while we are also focused on bringing in the warm bodies, we are also trying to ensure that we offer quality tourism services so that the tourists that come here stay, spend more, and come back again and again,” she added.
The Tourism Chief also breezed through other trends in ASEAN including wellness tourism and gastronomy.
Zeroing on gastronomy, Secretary Frasco mentioned the Philippine Experience Heritage Culture and Arts Caravan, identified as a priority tourism program under the National Tourism Development Plan (NTDP 2023-2028), the country’s tourism roadmap.
“We are very pleased to announce that to bring the Filipino food at the forefront of global consciousness, the Philippines is hosting the very first United Nations Tourism Forum for Asia-Pacific wherein we will be hosting tourism ministers from all over the world as well as highlighting the work of our world-renowned chefs and our regional chefs to really make the case for Filipino food to be at the forefront of Filipino tourism and the global preference of our travelers,” the Tourism Chief mentioned.
Tourism Summit 2024, a collaboration between the Department of Tourism and non-profit organization Go Negosyo, brings together some of the brightest minds in the travel industry, entrepreneurs, key stakeholders and enablers to recognize, inspire and give support to Filipino tourism MSMEs scale up and generate competitive Filipino entrepreneurs.
Earlier, Secretary Frasco joined Go Negosyo founder Joey Concepcion and First Lady Louise Araneta Marcos in presenting the Inspiring Tourism Entrepreneurs Awards, recognizing outstanding Filipino enterprises with significant contributions to the development of the country’s tourism landscape, and special citation for digital content creators and social media influencers for their role in promoting the country’s heritage, culture, cuisine, and destinations.
