Palawan tourism stakeholders try to boost tourism post-pandemic

Tuesday, June 20, 2023

Efforts are underway to make the province an even more attractive destination for travelers and adventure-seekers,stakeholders of the local tourism and hospitality industry of Palawan in Philippines on Sunday said.

The current Tourism TravelFairin PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, Palawan, according to Rey Felix Rafols, president of the Palawan Tourism Council (PTC), was organised as a one-stop-shop for travellers seeking information, various locations, and educated choices regarding their trip plans with the support of qualified experts.

The three-day travel fair began on Saturday at Robinsons Place Palawan and will end on Monday.

With the theme “Experience a Renewed Palawan: Celebrating People, Festival, Places, Food, and Culture,” it is one of numerous activities associated with the month-long Baragatan Festival.

The Baragatan (convergence or conference) displays the province’s cultural groups through trade shows, exhibitions, float parades, and street dance, among other activities.

According to Rafols, the travel expo allows tourism and hospitality enterprises to display their products and services to potential clients.

“Its purpose is to commemorate tourism, encompassing not only the overall magnificence of Palawan and its unspoiled beaches but also the indomitable spirit of the Palaweños, which has consistently been regarded as one of our most valuable strengths,” he said in an interview.

Rafols stated that despite the pandemic’s obstacles, Palawan continues to be resilient, looking forward, and embracing.He emphasised the need of the provincial government prioritising the promotion of cuisine tourism and historical tours as a critical step in sustaining the revitalization of Palawan’s tourism economy.

“There’s room for improvement in food and offering cultural heritage tourism, and hopefully, with the help of our tourism officials in the provincial government, we can do it,” he added.

During the opening of the travel expo, Provincial Board member Roseller Pineda emphasised the importance of having no off-season for tourism in Palawan, or the Philippines as a whole, because it is a tropical country with no winter season.

Pineda proposed encouraging tourism during the off-season by offering incentive travel to attract local travellers to fill gaps during the wet season, which occurs in the second part of the year.

“During the off-season, we must encourage local travelers, both Palaweños and all Filipinos. The provincial government, city government, and every local government unit in Palawan can offer incentive travel,” he said.

According to Pineda, one way is for the government or even private firms to give travel incentives to their employees if they reach a certain level of performance.

“If we can do that in Palawan and, little by little, with the help of the DOT (Department of Tourism), we can lobby or appeal to the governors’ league to implement it nationwide and provide incentive travel to top-performing workers. The beneficiary of that would be Palawan because we are known as a prime tourist destination,” he added.

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