Regina Rosa Tecson, City Tourism and Operations Officer, has expressed her dismay over the delay in the crafting of the city tourism master plan.
Speaking at the Wednesdays @ Habi at Kape – Abreeza, Tecson said the master plan is “out of their hands because the bidding was done by TIEZA (Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority)” but its crafting has yet to be implemented.
Last 2017, TIEZA approved P10 million budget for the development of the Davao City tourism master plan.
Drafting of the master plan started on the first quarter of 2018 and was expected to be completed on the second quarter of that year.
However, Tecson said it has yet to be finished.
During the tourism stakeholders meeting held last week, Tecson raised her concern regarding the delay of the crafting of the plan to the DOT officials.
“We expressed to them that hopefully they could help us follow up with TIEZA” she said as she requested the officials to also send a qualified consultant tasked to draft the master plan.
Tomorrow, Tecson said, a representative from TIEZA will meet with local tourism stakeholders to talk about the master plan. “We held several meetings already but sadly hanggang ngayon, wala pa,” she said.
“The most important is we need to have masterplan, (an industry) `bible’ to follow to determine our direction,” Tecson said, adding that the plan would help them determine the state of the tourism industry as it will contain its strong and weak points.
“We can also create a tourism branding for the Davao City which we can rally around,” she added.
She said the master plan can also be used to promote the other parts of the Davao Region as the city is the gateway to the entire region.
