GOVERNMENT auditors have questioned the P4.882 million foreign travel expenses that officials of the Tourism Promotions Board (TPB) incurred in 2023.
They said they appeared to be “unnecessary and excessive” since the group sent was performing the same functions or assignments unrelated to their positions or designations.
The 2023 TPB audit released on December 1, 2024, noted that the agency posted a big increase in its spending on foreign travel during the year.
“The foreign traveling expenses of TPB for CY 2023 increased by 57 percent or P11.559 million. The significant portion of the increase can be attributed to the DOT program called “Bisita, Be My Guest” or BBMG,” the Commission on Audit said.
However, auditors noted that the lead agency for the event was the Department of Tourism (DOT) while the TPB only had a supporting role even if it sent several personnel.
“The TPB only helps in its implementation and has minimal participation, which can be inferred from the lack of accomplishment reports of the TPB personnel. Hence, it is questionable for TPB to deploy multiple personnel for the performance of redundant responsibilities and/or with unrelated functions,” the COA added.
The audit team pointed out that based on the description of duties and responsibilities of the TPB officials who joined the trip, several had overlapping or redundant functions prompting an observation that “the necessity of their presence is questionable.”
Among the TPB executives tagged in the audit observations were the manager of the Domestic Promotions Department (DPD) and the acting head of the Branding Management and Advertising Division who both joined the BBMG events in Tokyo, Japan; San Francisco, California; London; Germany; and Dubai, UAE.
The DPD manager was supposed to “oversee overall preparations” while the advertising division official was assigned to “coordinate all the arrangements.”
A third TPB official who is a project development officer also under the DPD joined the BBMG in Tokyo, San Francisco, and London and had the responsibility of “preparing logistics” and “attending administrative arrangements.”
Four other executives joined the Dubai event to “provide assistance, facilitate, or coordinate.”
Two more also flew to Germany and one each to Tokyo and London for “assistance and coordination.”
In all, the TPB officials who traveled to the United States, Japan, UAE, and Europe for the BBMG spent P3.74 million combined.
A separate event, the World Travel Market, held in London from November 6 to 8, 2023 also had seven TPB officials who spent a total of P890,500.
They were the deputy chief operating officer for marketing and promotions, the acting head of the International Promotions Department (IPD), the acting head of Europe, Africa, Middle East, and India Division of IPD, market specialists from IPD, an information officer from the Marketing and Communications Department (MCD) and a creative arts specialist also from MCD.
Auditors said their function descriptions were redundant, including “monitor/coordinate” necessary arrangements, and “engage in business-to-business (B2B) activities.”
“These activities were all being performed by the Deputy Chief Operating Officer for Marketing and Promotions and the other responsibilities of the TPB delegates in WTM are somewhat similar to each other, thus, their presence is already questionable for being unnecessary,” the audit team pointed out.
Again, as it was the DOT that was the lead agency, the TPB participation was considered minimal.
In reaction to the audit findings, the TPB management admitted that it has no existing policy on the necessity of the participation of its personnel in various international events.
Also questioned was the attendance of the head of the TPB Legal Department at the Germany and London events when the function described only involved “providing assistance to the chief operating officer in meetings.”
“His presence in the event seemed unnecessary since his department is not in any way related to or connected to the implementation of the BBMG Program because it is the DPD and the MCD were in charge of the BBMG program,” the COA said.
The TPB defended sending several officials to different overseas events as “essential to ensure adequate personnel to manage critical tasks.”
Nonetheless, it assured the COA that the concerns raised in the audit would be addressed and guidelines would be drafted to ensure uniformity of policy in deploying personnel to tourism events abroad.