Disaster preparedness in tourism pushed

TACLOBAN CITY, May 17 (PNA) –- The Department of Tourism (DOT) Eastern Visayas regional office is pushing for resilience in tourism program to facilitate speedy recovery of the industry after disasters.

The initiative is mainly a capacity building program for tourism industry stakeholders, including the preparation of tourism disaster risk reduction and management (DRRM) plans.

“We are vulnerable area and we saw for ourselves what happened to Yolanda. We have to institute disaster preparedness in the tourism given the extent of help it can do to the post-disaster recovery,” said DOT Regional Director Karina Rosa Tiopes.

This program did not get funding support this year, although the tourism department has been incorporating DRRM in their advocacies in partnership with the regional and local DRRM offices.

For 2017, the regional office needs PHP5 million to help tourism-related establishments raise their capacity to deal with impacts of extreme climatic conditions.

“Restaurants and hotels need to recover immediately after a disaster because their services are badly needed by responders,” Tiopes said.

The National Economic Development Authority cited tourism sector as one of the major growth drivers after super typhoon Yolanda struck Leyte and Samar provinces more than two years ago.

In 2014, the region gained PHP9.09 billion from tourism. It went up by 14 percent to PHP8.08 billion last year. (PNA)
JMC/SARWELL Q. MENIANO