A consultant in the tourism industry has challenged members of the Negros Oriental Hotel, Resort and Restaurant Association, Inc. (NOHRRA) to work closely with the government sector to boost tourism in the province.
Andrea Trinidad Echavez, Communications Officer of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)-COMPETE and a tourism consultant to the Ministry of Tourism in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, hurled the challenge Wednesday evening during the NOHRAA’s general assembly at a local hotel in Dumaguete.
Echavez opened her speech with pictures and the story of Bohol’s tourism recovery program following the devastation brought by the October 15, 2013’s Magnitude 7.2 earthquake.
Echavez, who has worked closely with the government of Bohol under the USAID-COMPETE to restore and improve its tourism industry following the devastation, emphasized that the success of Bohol is really because of the close collaboration between the local government and the private sector.
She urged NOHRRA to be proactive in promoting Negros Oriental as a tourism destination, saying that tourism is a “pillar of the Philippine economy”.
Earnings from tourism was pegged at P1.43 trillion in 2015, represents 10.6 percent of the GDP and is the number 3 dollar contributor to the country, Echavez added.
Investments in tourism in 2015 reached P76 billion and is expected to grow by an average of 5.5 percent annually in the next ten years, the USAID-COMPETE consultant disclosed.
Tourism generated 1.5 million jobs in the country in 2015, she added.
Echavez urged NOHRRA and the private sector to not wait for a calamity like the earthquake in Bohol to happen before they start collaborating with the government sector and local officials to pump up the tourism industry.
She emphasized that “in all local governments that became successful in promoting tourism, local government officials and the private sector really work together”.
The NOHRRA, through the support of the 2016 Most Outstanding Chamber in the Asia-Pacific, the Negros Oriental Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and the Negros Oriental Investment Promotions Center, held its General Assembly for the presentation of its accomplishments in the last three years.
NOHRRA currently has 21 Restaurant members and 28 Hotel/Resort members, said John Jalandoni, NOCCI Executive Director.
As a brief overview, the Negros Oriental Hotel Resort and Restaurant Association Inc. (NOHRRA) is duly accredited and registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission as the primary association/organization of the accommodations and restaurant sector in the province of Negros Oriental, added.
As an association, NOHRRA is committed to taking an active role in shaping the development of the local tourism industry focusing on hotels, resorts and restaurants and serves as the advocate or voice of the sector to address various issues and concerns. It also organizes activities and events that would benefit its members and more so its customers and the tourists, both local and foreign, Jalandoni explained.
The NOCCI is supporting NOHRRA in its developmental efforts and is part of NOCCI’s business development advocacy and tourism interventions to help and assist local association/s (business and tourism) become more relevant to local economic development.
The NOHRRA also elected its new 15-member Board of Trustees, with seven members coming from the resort and eight members from the accommodations sector. (JFP)
