[ Manila Bulletin Online ] October 13, 2008
TACLOBAN CITY — The Department of Tourism (DoT) Region 8 office based here is encouraging local government units (LGUs) in Eastern Visayas to have their own local tourism offices and assign a qualified official.
Director Karina Rosa Tiopes, DoT Region 8 director, said she has observed that many LGUs in the region have no respective tourism offices.
While she said that all cities and some major towns in Eastern Visayas already have their own tourism offices, she lamented that many LGUs still do not have their own.
"It’s very ideal for local government units to have their own tourism offices and officers given the fact that there is a paradigm shift towards tourism," Tiopes said.
She said that while the provincial governments of the six provinces in Eastern Visayas have their respective tourism offices, only Eastern Samar appears to have no permanent tourism officer yet to be designated by Governor Ben Evardone.
She suggests that Eastern Samar should designate a permanent tourism officer considering that the province is host to some of the major tourism destinations in Eastern Visayas, like for instance the Calicoan Island--which is being considered the surfing capital of Central Philippines.
According to Tiopes, it is the common practice of some LGUs in Eastern Visayas to designate a tourism officer who is not totally knowledgeable about their local tourism assets.
"The best situation is, there should be a tourism office that will have a focal person who is on top of things," she said.
Tiopes said that the designation of these tourist attractions is not only meant to attract tourists in the locality but also to encourage its own people to help protect and preserve the tourism assets.
