DOT CANCELS APRIL 2019 MADRID FUSION

The Department of Tourism (DOT) has finally decided to cancel the fourth edition of Madrid Fusion Manila (MFM) scheduled in April 2019 due to budget constraints.

The cancellation was confirmed by Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat on Friday, saying the agency would instead “focus its resources on the many pressing challenges in the industry,” particularly sectors that would need support as it adopts a policy of sustainable tourism.

For 2019, Puyat said DOT would “be fully dedicated to optimizing its resources and allocating its budget toward programs and projects that directly impact community especially at the grassroots.”

She cited the promotion of farm tourism which would not only provide a source of income but would also be vital to countryside development.

DOT has a proposed budget of P3.39 billion for 2019—slightly lower than this year’s P3.48billion allocation—as it targets 8.2 million tourist arrivals under the National Tourism Development Plan.

Gastronomy event

MFM is an annual three-day convention local and foreign culinary masters, students and food enthusiasts.

According to its website, MFM “is the first and only Asian edition of Madrid Fusión, the most important gastronomy event in the world, celebrated annually in Madrid, Spain, since 2003.”

The first MFM was held in April 2015, under then Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez Jr. which signed a five-year memorandum of understanding with its Spanish organizers, Foro de Debate and Arum Estrategias Internacionalizacion.

Under the contract, the DOT needs to pay a franchise fee of $120,000 annually to hold the event in Manila.

Puyat, however, reiterated that “nothing was paid and will be paid in 2019” for holding the MFM.

Asked if MFM could be revived in 2020, the tourism secretary did not give a categorical answer but said “we hope that the private sector will lead in organizing the MFM event and the DOT will just play a supporting role.”