DAVAO CITY --The Department of Tourism (DoT) and three tourism players in Davao City on Wednesday sealed the deal for the implementation of the Tourism Industry Skills Program (TISP) aimed at capacitating industry stakeholders nationwide.
DoT partnered with Guide Union for Inbound and Eco-tours Destination (Guide), Letecia by the Sea Consortium, and Eden Mountain Resort for the project, which is funded by the Asian Development Bank and the Canadian International Development Agency (Cida).
ADB and Cida poured in P100 million for TISP with each region in the country getting an allocation of P5 million. TISP targets 40,000 trainees nationwide.
In Davao, Guide will train 50 industry stakeholders on Basic First Aid and Basic Life Support and Foreign language Course.
Letecia has 124 trainees for Back to Basic Training on Beach Resort Operations, Basic First Aid and Basic Life Support, and Open Water Diving Course; while Eden will train 85 industry workers on Asian languages and Customer Service Training for Frontliners, Basic First Aid and Life Support, System Repair and Maintenance Training like in Carpentry, Plumbing, and Electrical Installation and Maintenance.
During the signing ceremony at Marco Polo Hotel, DoT 11 director Roberto Alabado underscored the importance of the training for a stronger sector and in increasing the capacity of the local industry.
He said this is in preparation for the next surge in the tourism given that Davao will see more connectivity like Davao-Singapore, Davao and Kuala Lumpur.
Davao is also included in the package for the Qatar – Philippines connection. This, he said, will trigger increase in foreign visitors.
“We need to strengthen our local tourism industry. We have to prepare for this surge,” Alabado said.
TISP intends to empower industry workers to provide quality service leading to customer satisfaction, meet services standards, increase employment in the tourism sector, improved income opportunities, increased competitiveness of the Philippine Tourism Industry, and increased tourist arrivals and tourism receipts.
This is the second implementation of TISP. The first was also funded by ADB and Cida.
Director Ma. Rica Bueno of the DoT said TISP implemented in 2014 in four pilot areas: Davao, Cebu, Bohol, and Palawan. An evaluation of the funders showed success in terms of profitability of the enterprises.
The impact of the training was on food sale, lessening of staff turnover, and workers gained more confidence in their work places.
With the success of the pilot run, Bueno said an extension was decided. The P100 million funding for the year will be for one year only.
DoT undersecretary Alma Jimenez said this should be a good time to clean the house not to capacitate industry workers but passage of ordinances to instill discipline because there is a strong mode of obedience, and planning to narrow the gap requirements of the industry in terms of manpower.
Jimenez emphasized on acquiring necessary competencies and skills. She said there are many workers in the industry but lack the necessary skills.
Jimenez said this will also improve the country’s competitiveness in tourism and address the concerns of the Philippine Tourism Human Resources Development Plan. (Lilian C. Mellejor/PNA)
* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at
www.wirenine.comLinkback:
https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=107002.0
