Public-private cooperation will boost state-owned tourism assets–angara

FULL potential of State-owned tourism assets is seen to bloom with private-public collaboration, Senator Juan Edgardo Angara projected over the weekend.

Addressing an Ateneo School of Government forum, Angara affirmed “public-private collaboration is needed to unleash the full potential of stateowned tourism assets.”

If government assets in the tourism sector are to be made more profitable, “possible collaborations with the private sector should be explored to develop their full potential,” the senator suggested.

He saw bright prospects for tourism to continue to be a driver of growth once things go back to normal. “With the right programs and investments, including closer public-private collaboration, I believe the Philippines could easily compete with the best in the region because of how much it has to offer,” Angara asserted.

Tourism, he pointed out, is one area where a possible partnership between the government and the private sector could be “explored more extensively.”

The senator pointed out that while government owns a lot of assets, ”let us face it: the government is not the best at running these enterprises,” adding that, “you are not maximizing earnings in these enterprises.”

For instance, he listed the Banaue Hotel and Youth Hostel and some islands in the Visayas, owned and operated by the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (Tieza), which, Angara said, are prime tourist destinations that could use a little help from private enterprises with strong track records in developing such assets.

“If you could make them attractive, maybe the private sector could come in and do some variant of BOT [buildoperate-transfer],” he said, adding: “They can make it profitable, they can make it nice and then turn these back over to the government at some point in the future.”

Angara noted that “this is still a largely unexplored area of public-private collaboration that could provide a boost to the tourism industry, generate a lot of economic activity and provide employment for Filipinos.”

At the same time, the senator recalled that the tourism sector was “among the most badly affected sectors” when the Covid-19 pandemic hit the country as restrictions on travel were imposed.

He noted that while the tourism sector does not appear to be among the top priorities of the Duterte government at this time, “its revival will have to be addressed once there is more certainty regarding the health and safety of travelers, both domestic and foreign.”

Angara affirmed that while tourism “contributes a great deal to the growth of our economy, it is lamentable that the pandemic struck at a time when the sector was already recording impressive growth.”

He however, aired bright prospects that tourism will continue to be a driver of growth once things go back to normal. “With the right programs and investments, including closer public-private collaboration, I believe the Philippines could easily compete with the best in the region because of how much it has to offer,” Angara asserted.