Second phase of project to begin

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) 7 is implementing the second phase of the Travel Retail Immersion Program (TRIP) this year, after the successful rollout in nine regions two years ago.

DTI 7 Director Asteria Caberte said the second phase of the TRIP will be more advanced to produce “impressive results.”

“We will be introducing another dimension of the TRIP. This time we will be very specific in identifying products to be developed and enhanced,” said Caberte, adding that the second phase will have cultural relevance and improved market orientation, among others.

TRIP is a project aimed at helping communities gain market access to the travel retail industry. The program was initially rolled out in Calabarzon, Mimaropa, Bicol, Western Visayas, Central Visayas, Eastern Visayas, Zamboanga Peninsula, Davao and Caraga regions in 2015.

It is designed to plug communities across the country into the growing travel retail industry. It is a year-long engagement program that seeks to develop communities that have promising products to become sustainable, gain market access in the local tourism value chain, and eventually in the international market.

DTI 7 is the lead region for the project in partnership with Butch Carungay, a Cebuano designer and exporter, who is behind District 32 at the Mactan Cebu International Airport.

Caberte said the agency picked Carungay to spearhead the project because of his expertise in design, international trading, marketing and tourism retail, which could help communities develop their products to be competitive and at par with international standards.

Among TRIP’s success stories are the baskets of the Tagbanua Tribe of Palawan. /