The Department of Tourism (DOT) will be capacitating tourism officers nationwide under the Association of Tourism Officers of the Philippines (ATOP) with Sustainable Tourism Development Trainings designed and run by the Asian Institute of Management.
DOT Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco, together with ATOP National President Junel Ann Divinagracia, signed the agreement.
The training program, a pioneering partnership between the DOT and the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) — Dr. Andrew L. Tan Center for Tourism, is a capacity-building initiative designed for tourism officers from various local government units (LGUs), integrating sustainability principles and practices into tourism policymaking, planning, management, and product development.
“Through the signing of this memorandum of agreement, we will be able to further concretize the commitment of the Marcos administration to equalize tourism development and promotions across the country,” Secretary Frasco stated.
“However, we cannot even begin to approach this gargantuan task without further capacitating those who see and know the actual situation on the ground — our tourism officers, who are charged with the knowledge of their specific destinations and can be potent partners in implementing, not only theoretically but practically, the principles of sustainability that govern our National Tourism Development Plan,” she continued.
The Sustaining Tourism Development Training (STDT) is a crucial step towards capacitating tourism destination managers to implement sustainable development plans, aligning with the vision of the NTDP 2023-2028. It also reaffirms the DOT’s commitment to international policies and frameworks, including the UN Sustainable Development Goals, the Asean Framework on Sustainable Tourism, the UN Tourism’s Environment, Social and Governance Framework, and the Statistical Framework for Measuring the Sustainability of Tourism.
The STDT, designed as a two-part program, will commence with Part 1: a one-month self-paced online course culminating in a two-day onsite session scheduled for April 17 to 18. This phase targets tourism officers, DOT Regional Offices, and Central Office representatives, with the main outcome to be incorporated into the development of program, activity, and project proposals aligned with the NTDP targets.
