New CV tourism head urged: Continue former director’s programs

Tourists experience the breathtaking view of Lake Danao in the town of San Francisco, one of the prime tourism destinations on Camotes Islands located along the northern section of Cebu province. (CDN FILE PHOTO)

TOURISM stakeholders in Cebu welcomed the appointment of a new regional tourism chief and called for the continuity of programs implemented in the previous administration.

Edilberto Mendoza, president of the Cebu Association of Tour Operators, said he hopes the new director of the Department of Tourism in Central Visayas (DOT-7) would work with them in terms of programs they have initiated with the last tourism chief.

Among these, he said, are the Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibits (MICE) manual, hop on–hop off tours and night market projects.

“We can expect a more vibrant tourism industry (with these),” he told Cebu Daily News in a text message.

Catalino Chan III, who was the tourism director of Northern Mindanao, was sworn in as the new DOT-7 chief by Tourism Secretary Wanda Corazon Teo in her office in Manila last Tuesday.

According to his Facebook profile, Chan is a graduate of Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a major in Marketing from the University of San Carlos, and he lives in Cagayan de Oro City.

CHAN

For about three months, the post was given to Judy Gabato on an acting capacity when former director Rowena Montecillo stepped down following the call of President Rodrigo Duterte for appointees of previous administrations to step down from their offices.

Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale, in an earlier report, said it was important that a new regional director was appointed since two international events are set to be held here in Cebu next year, including the Asean summit and swimsuit competition of the 2017 Miss Universe pageant.

Cenelyn Manguilimotan, Hotels, Resorts, and Restaurants Association of Cebu (HRRAC) past president, meanwhile, said she is looking forward to Chan meeting with the local stakeholders.

“I just hope he will meet and work with the stakeholders because at the end of the day, he will be promoting and supporting the destinations,” she said.

How this will turn out remains to be seen, she said, as the new regional director is from Northern Mindanao and that he has to be familiar with the tourist sites here.

Manguilimotan also said she hopes that the DOT this time will more closely bridge tourism stakeholders with local government units especially with regard to policy-making.

“There is a need for close coordination between the LGUs and the stakeholders, especially on matters that will affect the latter,” she said.

Former acting DOT-7 Chief Judy Gabato, in a text message, told CDN that they would be having a strategic-planning workshop next week to properly turn over the regional office.