New DOT director for Central Visayas

Tourism stakeholders in Cebu will be paying a courtesy visit to the new regional tourism chief of Central Visayas.

Shalimar Hofer Tamano, who is from the Department of Tourism (DOT) head office in Manila, is now the acting regional tourism director of Region 7, replacing Joshur Judd Lanete II, who resigned from office citing health reasons.

“We will be meeting the new regional director next week. It will just be a courtesy visit to let him know that we will be supportive of the DOT programs for the country, and for Cebu,” said HRRAC president Carlo Suarez, adding that they will also take the opportunity to present to the new regional director the programs of HRRAC, which will be aligned to the projects of the DOT.

“What we want is to market Cebu more to the global tourism market,” said Suarez.

The tourism sector is excited for the opening of the Terminal 2 of Mactan Cebu International Airport in June this year. They expect an influx of tourists and more direct flights to Cebu.

Officials of the Cebu Alliance of Tour Operations Specialists (Catos) have also yet to meet the new regional director.

But they expect productive, regular consultation among stakeholders and the agency to align efforts and policies for everyone’s benefit, said Catos president Alice Queblatin.

“We always look at the DOT leadership for directions and insights in identifying priority markets for Region 7; supply database to supplement our research on what tour products to develop for the region’s priority markets; support training needs of tour practitioners in the region and facilitation of the tourism business to encourage growth of the industry,” said Queblatin.

Tamano used to serve in the DOT head office in Manila as department legislative liaison officer, prior to his appointment in Cebu.

Before he resigned from his post, Lanete promised a bigger and grander tourism industry for Cebu this year. /