By PABLO A. TARIMAN
THE recently-concluded international tourism convention in Albay has once more spotlighted the need for disaster-prone countries to draw up alternative ways of promoting tourism even as they are constantly threatened by effects of climate change.
It could not have been held in a more appropriate venue. Albay bore the brunt of Typhoon Reming in 2006 killing more than 2000 inhabitants mostly from mudslides from Mayon Volcano. It has since then recovered and is the only province in the Philippines noted for its highly organized emergency response capacity with the first and only Climate Change Academy in the world put up by the United Nations Development Program. .
World Wide Fund For Nature International President Yolanda Kakabadse from Ecuador noted in a paper that Filipinos know by heart the true cost of climate change. “They know because one storm claimed more than 6,000 lives and inflicted $14 billion in economic damage. They know because they have experienced loss – and loss is a powerful teacher.”
The significance of the international gathering held last May 15 to 20 was not lost to President Benigno Aquino III who addressed delegates to the 26th Joint Meeting of the UNWTO Commission for East Asia and the Pacific and UNWTO Commission for South Asia and the UNWTO–ASEAN International Conference on Tourism and Climate Change.
The President told the delegates he is optimistic the country will meet its goal of 10 million tourists when his term ends in 2016. He added his administration is committed to breaching the 10-million mark by the time his term ends in about two years and one month.
Among others, the President said the tourism sector has reached the 35.5 million domestic travelers target by 2016 “five years ahead of schedule” and adjusted a new goal of achieving 56.1 million travelers.
His good news for the Bicolanos: “Largely due to the economic and social benefits of the project, as well as the participation of the local community, Donsol (in Sorsogon province) went from a sixth class municipality to a first class municipality in less than five years.”
It may be noted that a sixth class town makes less than P15 million annually while first class towns earn P55 million on the average.
The conference saw local players in the travel industry pledging their support to protect the environment and preserve the nation’s cultural heritage in promoting tourism.
The conference secretariat said the commitments are part of the Global Code of Ethics for Tourism drawn up by the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).
During the weeklong UNWTO International Conference on Tourism and Climate Change here, UNWTO secretary-general Taleb Rifai commended the country’s tourism office for pushing the promotion of this initiative.
The tourism congress also had fourteen tourism-related establishments signing the Global Code of Ethics for Tourism for the first time.
The Philippines is the second country in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, next to Indonesia, to endorse the code adopted in 1999.
The code has only about 200 countries around the world as signatories, mostly from Europe and Latin America.
With international tourism forecast to reach 1.6 billion arrivals by 2020, UNWTO members believe that the Global Code of Ethics for Tourism is needed to help minimize the negative impacts of tourism on the environment and on cultural heritage, while maximizing the benefits for residents of tourism destinations.
Some 2,000 delegates from 32 countries attended the tourism congress secured by 300 additional police personnel to beef up the existing police force of the city during their six-day stay in Albay.
For the first time in the province, flags of 32-members nations with participants in the tourism congress unfurled in the cultural landmarks of the province.
Meanwhile, Albay Governor Joey Salceda has announced the province achieved 300,000 more tourists within a three-year period.
The governor said Albay has earned its lucky charm when it was chosen as the venue of the tourism convention from among 156 countries.
The international tourism congress once more highlighted Albay’s heritage sites and the active state of its ecotourism as symbolized by its number one tourism endorser, the 2,500- meter high Mayon Volcano.
The delegates savored tertullas in historic Daraga Church and sunset dinner in Cagsawa Church ruins, among others.
“The recently concluded international tourism congress showed what Albayanos can do in seven days for international stakeholders in tourism. It is better to promote the best in us instead of putting people down. I share the optimism of my provincemates that like the moon, we hope to radiate the brightness of the sun. By the grace of God, I hope there will be far more full moons than eclipses in the tourism front,” said Salceda beaming with pride.
