Department of Tourism Undersecretary Art Boncato asked Cebu’s tourism stakeholders what they can do to ensure sustainability in tourism. /Irene R. Sino Cruz
CEBU CITY, Philippines–Tourism Undersecretary Art Boncato Jr. said the department is promoting the development of tourism circuits.
He explained that tourism circuits would have roads, an entry point such as airports and seaports as well as sites, attractions and restaurants.
“If our planning is done in such ways, investors will also find the way to be part of the circuit so it (the benefits of tourism) becomes spread out,” Boncato said in an interview at the sidelines of Tourism Innovation Forum held Tuesday at the Marco Polo Plaza in Cebu City.
“The direction of DOT is to create sustainable (tourism) growth if we manage to develop sites and attractions as part of the circuit,” he added.
Boncato said that southern Cebu has a natural tourism circuit in Oslob, Alcoy and other nearby municipalities.
According to Boncato, identifying a tourism circuit would help identify investment opportunities in the area. But he cited the need to develop the required infrastructure thus the need for local governments to take the lead role in tourism circuit development.
Local governments have to revisit their investment code as well as their environment code to make sure they enforce environmental laws, Boncato said.
According to Boncato, Cebu could have hundreds of tourism circuits.
“It can be shopping, eating, going to church, going to beaches. It’s not static. It’s dynamic,” he added.
Creating tourism circuits and making these known to tourists planning their trips to Cebu so they would know what to do, Boncato said. /dcb