DOT backs move for long weekends to supercharge domestic travel
The diverse offerings that Cebu has for tourists like canyoneering in its southern Cebu hills and rivers, and its white sand beaches are among the factors that make Cebu a top tourism destination.
MANILA, Philippines — Tourism Secretary Christina Garcia-Frasco on Thursday backed a proposal to extend holidays and weekends.
Senator Raffy Tulfo filed Senate Bill No. 1651, seeking to extend weekends to promote the growth of local tourism.
“In terms of giving persons and their families opportunities to spend time with each other to explore other parts of our country, definitely increasing the number of long weekends greatly helps domestic tourism,” said Frasco in an interview on ANC.
According to Frasco, tourism is vital for recovering the economy following the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I do understand that there is a need to balance economics with leisure tourism. In the end, however, we also have to examine the employment and livelihood benefits that encouraging domestic tourism can bring,” said Frasco.
While Frasco did not explicitly back Tulfo’s bill, she also mentioned that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. had already added long weekends to help encourage travel.
READ: Marcos approves more long weekends
“During the pandemic we saw how much domestic tourism contributed to our economies in the provinces and the regions and therefore we are in full support of the existing long weekends,” said Frasco.
RELATED STORIES
As leisure travel resumes, Cebu City’s tourism dept wants higher budget in 2023
Tourism chief suspends layoffs at Duty Free Philippines
Disclaimer: The comments uploaded on this site do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of management and owner of Cebudailynews. We reserve the right to exclude comments that we deem to be inconsistent with our editorial standards.
