With the facilitation of the local government unit of Island Garden City of Samal through its City Investment and Tourism Office, spearheaded by Ms. Rosabel V. Jusguan, in partnership with the Asian Development Bank (ADB), a centralizing data practices for collecting tourism registration and environmental fees seminar and workshop took place on November 9–10, 2023, at Camp Holiday Beach Resort.
The 2-day capacity-building activity on smart tourism, which was attended by the various departments of the local government, the Philippine Coast Guard (IGACOS), and the tourism stakeholders, aims to improve tourism management with consideration of the policy, processes, technology at hand, and environmental protection.
Further, Department of Tourism Regional Director Tanya Rabat-Tan shared her journey in the Smart Tourism Training in Busan, South Korea, earlier this year, where she comprehensively proposed Samal to be the recipient of the smart tourism program of the ADB in the Philippines. She also pointed out some notable key takeaways during her training: advantages of the application of digitization; prioritizing people and environment in development; and having a very sound proposal for the participants to ponder.
On the first day, Mr. Trevor Weltman, Asian Development Bank Consultant, talked about the advantages of smart tourism in the tourism industry. Several case studies were presented that showed how digitization affects promotion, data gathering, and the efficiency of the utilization of data in leading the city to more sustainable tourism.
Mr. Weltman also reminded the participants that in order to be a smart tourism city, the participants must identify the needs of the tourism industry, get more tourism data, and acquire better digital tools.
Additionally, Ms. Chen Mencias, a tourism planning consultant, discussed the problems encountered with tourism and highlighted the importance of environmental conservation and protection in conjunction with the development of the tourism industry. She also taught the participants how to calculate the tourism carrying capacity of a tourism destination, which can lead to better tourist traffic management and tourism services.
During the second day of the activity, an ocular visit and observation of the Environmental User’s Fee collection sites were conducted to get personal knowledge of the process, the challenges of the collection, and infer how digitization can be helpful in the process. Right after the visit, the participants shared their observations and suggested more systematic collection and acquisition of tourism data strategies.
Smart tourism is not only applying innovative practices in the process but also coming up with valuable insights on how to optimize tourism experiences and promote sustainable tourism.
(SamalIslandInformation/NBC/RConcepcion)
