MANILA – A House of Representatives’ panel has approved a bill creating resilience in the country’s tourism industry to prevent and control possible damages arising from present-day threats, such as terrorism, environmental degradation, and climate change.
The House committee on tourism, chaired by Leyte Rep. Lucy Torres-Gomez, approved House Bill No. 6093, seeking to create the Tourism Resiliency Certification Program (TRCP) under the administration of the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA).
Gomez, who authored the bill, said the certification program shall identify the risks to the country’s tourism industry; prescribe compliance measures; establish a metric system to determine the acceptable levels of compliance; and mandate the compliance of all Registered Tourism Enterprises (RTEs) and Tourism Enterprise Zones (TEZs).
“The impetus of the certification program springs from the desire to address the issue of fragmentation in risk identification, solutions-generation, and overall crisis management of RTEs and TEZs,” Gomez said in a statement issued Wednesday.
“Therefore, the program shall take a holistic and integrated perspective in risk assessment and problem solving versus the piecemeal protocols and procedures that are currently in place,” she added.
Gomez stressed the need to protect the tourism industry as one of the major drivers of socio-economic development in the Philippines, noting that the security of local and foreign tourists is a cornerstone for the survival and growth of the industry.
The bill also provides for the creation of the Philippine Tourism Risk Assessment Framework, which shall be conducted by a qualified international consulting entity under the supervision of the Department of Tourism (DOT).
The bill mandates TIEZA to be the corporate body to oversee, regulate, implement and supervise the compliance and certification of RTEs and TEZs under the Act.
Meanwhile, the DOT shall be the lead organizer in the creation of the Philippine Tourism Risk Assessment Framework and the convention of the technical working groups that shall create the measures and mechanics of the TRCP. (PNA)
