BAGUIO CITY – The City Council approved on first reading a proposed ordinance mandating all hotels, resorts, apartelles, pension houses, tourist inns, transient houses, and other similar accommodation establishments in the city to submit their tourism statistical data to the Office of the City Administrator – Tourism and Special Events Division (CAO-TSED).
The ordinance authored by Councilor Elmer Datuin stated all licensed accommodation establishments accomplish their tourism statistical data monthly based on standards and formulas provided by the Department of Tourism. Further, the licensed accommodation establishments are required to submit the monthly statistical data to the CAO-TSED on or before the 10th day of each month.
Under the proposed ordinance, any accommodation establishment found to have violated the provisions of the measure shall be fined of P1,000 for the first offense, fined P2,000 for the second offense, and fined P3,000 for the third offense.
If found to have violated more than three times, the ordinance stipulated the business permit issued to the establishment shall be revoked and the owner be fined P5,000.
Republic Act (RA) No. 9593, otherwise known as the Tourism Act of 2009, provides the shared responsibilities of national and local governments wherein local government units are authorized by the Department of Tourism to monitor and administer tourism activities and enforce tourism laws, rules, and regulations.
Moreover, the law provides that pursuant to RA 7160, or the Local Government Code of 1991, local governments shall prepare, adopt, implement, and monitor their local tourism development plans, enforce standards for tourism enterprises, and collect statistical data for tourism purposes.
It can be recalled that in October 2011, basic tourism statistics training was conducted by the local government for all accommodation establishments in the city wherein participants were familiarized with the new system on recording and reporting tourist arrivals and they were provided a uniform format to gather reports and share information.
According to the proposal, the said system will track down performance of accommodation establishments, determine seasonality and adjust planning, marketing and operational cost.
Tourism statistics will serve as inputs for policy and decision-making, development and improvement of the tourism industry, and for marketing and investment promotion in the local, regional, and national levels.
Likewise, in the ordinance it states tourism statistics are also needed for designing marketing strategies, strengthening inter-institutional relations, and evaluating the efficiency and effectiveness of management decisions.
Lastly, tourism statistics are a means of measuring tourism throughout the national economy as an assessment tool, whether tourism policies or activities are effective, sustainable, and progressive for the overall growth of the local tourism industry.
By Dexter A. See