RP’s tourism officers association sets meeting in Capiz
ROXAS CITY – The Association of Tourism Officers of the Philippines (ATOP) will conduct its quarterly meeting on Dec. 6 to 8 here in time with the Sinadya sa Halaran (SSH) celebration and Western Visayas Tourism Assembly.
“About 30 members of the association will come here for the meeting to discuss tourism –related projects and programs,” said Provincial Tourism Officer Alphonsus Tesoro.
The last meeting of the group was in Batangas.
ATOP is an organization of provincial/city/municipal tourism officers which serves as the “driving force” for the local government units in developing tourism industry in their respective places.
Tesoro added that these visitors along with other tourists who will come for the forthcoming celebrations are expected to stir up the local business and economic activities.
The province has also been a host to an estimated 700 guests and visitors during the Indigenous People’s month celebration and Association of Southeast Asian Nation’s (ASEAN) Communal Property Rights forum last October.
The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) estimates domestic tourism, excluding the businesses that indirectly earn from tourism such as souvenir shops, restaurants, and hotels, currently contribute between five percent and six percent to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), where consumption, investments, and government infrastructure spending are major factors.
“With the trend among affluent Filipinos to travel to and spend more in local instead of foreign tourist destinations, the industry and related businesses have been investing in new or expansion projects and have created more local jobs despite the global economic crisis,” a NEDA statement noted. (PIA/A.Lumaque)
