Some of the country’s major destinations which receive the most number of foreign tourists as well as those that show the highest potential, make up the exclusive, elite list of priority areas that the government has earmarked for tourism promotion and infrastructure development.
Classified into tourism complexes or clusters, these places tagged as "the eight prime tourism complexes" are Cebu-Bohol-Siargao, Metro Manila-Tagaytay, Northern Palawan, Boracay, Clark-Subic, Cordillera, Ilocos, and Davao.
Newly-appointed Tourism Secretary Joseph Ace Durano said the plan to fasttrack the promotion of "the big eight," have been earlier identified in the 10-point agenda of the Arroyo administration.
The beaches and dive sites of Cebu, Bohol, Siargao, Palawan, and Boracay are frequented by Koreans and Japanese. Laoag and Vigan are favorite destinations of the Taiwanese because of its proximity to Taipei and the availability of direct flights from the Laoag International Airport, aside from its various natural, cultural and historical attractions.
The Chinese, on the other hand, prefer the entertainment facilities like casinos, and world-class business and investment facilities and opportunities being offered by Manila, Tagaytay, Clark and Subic.
Durano explained that while the DoT will begin its task of promoting these destinations, other departments will complement it by providing the necessary infrastructure to make the tourist sites more accessible and convenient to tourists.
He said the construction of several infrastructure projects are now underway such as a North Rail that will link the northern part of Metro Manila to Clark and its southern part to Batangas Port; the completion of the MRT final linkage with LRT; the development of the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport, San Fernando Airport, Panglao, Palawan and Iloilo airports as well as the Aparri seaport.
Meanwhile, Durano said he has decided to focus a major part of the Department’s marketing campaign on its short haul market — the North Asia particularly mainland China, Japan and South Korea as these countries generate the largest source of tourist arrivals to the Asian region.
Of this market, the first priority will be the beachgoers, sightseers and shoppers while second priority will go to recreationists, eco-tourists, backpackers and balikbayans. The long haul markets, particularly the Meeting, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibition (MICE) market is the DoT’s third priority.
Durano said the increased promotion of the eight tourism complexes hopes to fulfill the Department’s target of five million tourist arrivals by 2010.
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