The Department of Tourism (DOT) announced the second iteration of the Tourism Champions Challenge, an initiative that empowers local government units (LGUs) to transform local tourism proposals into sustainable and high-value infrastructure projects that positively impact the communities.
DOT Secretary Christina Frasco in a press conference on Thursday said In this cycle, 21 LGUs will benefit from the program and the funding has been increased from P255 million last year to P399 million this year.
Frasco said the first cycle of the Challenge has managed to empower 15 LGUs from all over the Philippines to propose community based tourism infrastructure projects that will provide livelihood to their community-based tourism organizations.
These, she said, opened opportunities for more tourism employment, as well as awakening of the potential of emerging destinations.
“The Tourism Champions Challenge was born out of experience when I was mayor of Lilian in Cebu, I saw for myself the challenges that local governments units face in terms of having the requisite amount of funding to support their respective visions for their LGUs , and more often than not, the vision is not backed by enough funds. That is why, coming into the fold of the DOT and in partnership with TIEZA (Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise ZOne Authority), we devised this program that takes a bottoms-up approach to tourism development and ensures that tourism development in the country is not only transformative, but also and importantly, inclusive, resilient and equitable,” Frasco said.
In the first cycle, winners of the Tourism Champions Challenge are chosen based on resiliency, inclusivity.
She added: “By way of continuing this program, which has been very well received by our LGUs all over the country, tourism development can truly be felt in the farthest corners of our country, apart from investing in tourism infrastructure, we have also ensured that we provide enough support for the backbone of our tourism industry, our small and medium enterprises that operate across the Philippines and provide experiences for our destinations.”
In the first Tourism Champions Challenge, the best project proposals were selected according to these criteria: resiliency, inclusivity, and sustainable development (20 percent); relevance to the “Challenge” theme (10 percent); project objective and impact to tourism (20 percent); economic and financial viability (20 percent); sustainability mechanism (15 percent); and, presentation quality (15 percent).
The winners were Ambaguio, Nueva Vizcaya; Sablayan, Occidental Mindoro; Bolinao, Pangasinan; San Jose, Romblon; Oriental Mindoro; Tubigon, Bohol; Badian, Cebu; Silago, Southern Leyte; Victorias City, Negros Occidental; Panay, Capiz; Isabela City, Basilan; Davao City, Davao del Sur; Island Garden City of Samal, Davao del Norte; Tagum City, Davao del Norte; and San Agustin, Surigao del Sur.
