The tourism department plans to put up an initial ten tourism rest areas (TRAs) in strategic places in various tourist destinations in the country to provide visitors with an enhanced overall experience when going around the archipelago.
Tourism Secretary Ma. Cristina Garcia-Frasco disclosed that the TRAs will be provided with a tourist information center, a pasalubong center and more importantly clean restrooms that will allow tourists to have an enhanced overall tourism experience.
Secretary Frasco, who spearheaded the groundbreaking ceremony of the 4th TRA in the country along Kennon Road Monday, said that the initial batch of TRAs will provide convenience for visitors not only in their desired destination but also in their journey going to and from their destination places.
The tourism department broke ground for the TRAs in Manolo Fortich in Bukidnon, Samal Island in Davao del Norte, and Carmen in Cebu over the past several months.
Further, she added that other TRAs will be constructed in Bohol, Palawan, Ilocos Norte and Cebu in the coming months to complete the initial batch of programmed TRAs to boost the country’s recovering tourism industry.
The tourism secretary disclosed that the operation and maintenance of the TRAs will be incentivized by the department with parameters provided for the local governments hosting the said TRAs to comply.
According to her, once the host local government reaches the average score of 90 percent for the prescribed parameters, the tourism department provide incentives to the local government in the form of financial grant or the put up of a similar project within their respective areas of jurisdiction.
Secretary Frasco underscored that the put up of TRAs is part of the present administration’s 7-point tourism agenda on improved infrastructure and gateway access for the sustained growth of the local tourism industry after having been heavily impacted by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
The tourism official assured concerned stakeholders that the government will continue to aggressively promote the country’s tourism locally and overseas to sustain the influx of foreign visitors and improve the mobility of domestic tourists which will be instrumental in bringing back the vibrance of the country’s tourism industry.
She revealed that the country was able to exceed its tourism target for the year as tourism receipts had already reached more than P130 billion and still counting up to the need of the year, thus, the prospects of improved tourism in the coming year will be likely, especially when the prevailing community quarantine restrictions shall have been lifted.
Frasco emphasized that the upcoming conduct of travel fairs will also help in enticing people to start moving around and explore the various tourist destinations that provide attractions for both foreign and domestic visitors wanting to see beautiful places and pass on the good news to others that the Philippines is a beautiful country worth exploring.
