Metro Manila Tourism Forum 2018 Encourages Local Cities to Become Global Brands
On August 30 and 31, the International School of Sustainable Tourism (ISST) organized the second edition of the Metro Manila Tourism Forum with the theme “City Tourism: Rebuilding A Local Destination to A Global Brand.”
Organized by ISST, the forum was co-presented by the Automobile Association Philippines (AAP), Department of Tourism (DOT) and supported by Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. and Digital Out-of-Home. The event was also made possible by Globe Business, Unilever Advertising, Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation, Resorts World Manila, Enchanted Kingdom and CNN Philippines.
Hundreds of tourism industry’s innovators, stakeholders and local government representatives gathered at Blue Leaf Filipinas as Paranaque City Mayor Edwin Olivarez and his staff played host to the two-day assembly.
Department of Tourism National Capital Region (DOT-NCR) Officer-in-Charge Catherine Agustin delivered the keynote speech on behalf of DOT Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat.
“The NCR continues to be promoted as a multi-faceted destination and urban renewal projects are key to staying in the game, especially as low-cost carriers have expanded access and provided direct flights to other local destinations,” Agustin said.
Among the information she shared was the increase in tourist arrivals where 2.3 million air arrivals out of the total 3.5 million total arrivals came through Manila.
Agustin also revealed several DOT projects that includes the creation of a cruise port because of the growing cruise arrivals through NCR.
During the first plenary session, the role of the government in city tourism and creating a community-based tourism in the megacity was highlighted.
“The city government is not a tourism company (but) the city government should take care of their people and should take care of the tourism in their area,” said Keynote Speaker Maria YoungSin Lim of the Citizen Campaign Transformation of Tourism Imagine Peace (Korea).
The other panelists tackled the various transformative efforts in Metro Manila such as the restoration of the Pasig River, creation of expressways to and from the city and activation of tourism initiatives of the local government.
For the second plenary session, Keynote Speaker Jason Lusk, CEO of Clickable Vietnam, focused on creating diversity in what to offer visitors while at the same time making sure basic necessities are met.
Tourist entertainment, restoration projects and even identification of the right business model to attract tourists to Metro Manila were explained by the panelists.
At the final plenary session, Keynote Speaker Dato Sri Abdul Khani Daun, Tourism Malaysia Deputy Director, discussed how various mediums can help magnify the city into a global brand.
In this session, the panelists talked about city tourism through the marketing perspective, creating an effective brand, campaigns that work, and utilizing social media.
“We really need to fix Metro Manila because the problems we have here often spill over to the provinces. We need to learn to look at Metro Manila as not just a gateway but also as a tourist destination,” said ISST president Mina T. Gabor, who is concurrently an AAP trustee and chair of AAP’s tourism and travel committee.