By Donnabelle
L. Gatdula (The Philippine Star) | Updated June 18, 2013 - 12:00am
MANILA,
Philippines - The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) and the
Department of Tourism (DOT) are working together to identify growth areas that
could be developed into tourism hubs.
NEDA deputy
director-general Emmanuel Esguerra said they are aligning goals under the
Philippine Development Plan 2011-2016 with that of the Tourism Development Plan
(TDP).
“Based on the
tourism development plan, developments in tourism are not in immediate areas
where tourists are present. Because you need other services, it could come from
adjacent communities so the growth spreads even to areas that are not directly
within the tourist hub,” he said.
The NEDA
official noted that development is not evenly spread in other parts of the
country.
“From the
data, we observed that around 60 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP)
just comes from three regions, which are NCR, Southern Tagalog and Central
Luzon, Mindanao is 14 percent and the rest and from the point of view of
inclusive growth, you would want growth to be broad based for the other regions
to partake of the benefits of growth,” he said.
Esguerra said
this is one strategy that could lead to growth and eventually help alleviate
poverty in the country.
“Now going
forward, the strategy to make that happen is to pay attention to the spatial or
the geographical and sectoral dimension of growth and its possible to identify
those specific areas that have very high growth potential that have good chance
of creating jobs and thereby you hope to reduce poverty,” he said.
Most of the
areas being looked at, he said, are those with high agricultural activities.
“Raising
agricultural activity will be important in raising that development aspect,” he
said.
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