CALABARZON Region to boost tourism sector in time for Visit the Philippines Year 2015

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MANILA — Designating CALABARZON or Region 4-A as a go-to destination not just during daytime, but also at night would be a significant boost in tourism for the region composed of the provinces of Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon.

Department of Tourism (DOT) Region 4-A Director Rebecca Villanueva-Labit says this is what the regional tourism officers are currently working in time for the Visit the Philippines 2015 (VPY2015).

VPY2015 is the DOT’s event-centric promotional program aimed at strengthening the country’s brand image to help meet its target of acquiring 10-million tourists before the end of the Aquino administration in 2016.

Labit said that CALABARZON currently accounts for more than 46 percent of the country’s daytime visitor arrivals. However, it has yet to work on getting visitors to stay overnight.

“We now want to convert same day visitor to stay for a night in our region,” Labit said in an interview with the Philippines News Agency on the sidelines of the launch of VPY2015 in the region on Friday.

“We have to see in a different perspective and continue to stimulate the interest of players, since this is what is going to elevate the tourism of CALABARZON,” she added.

Labit said that currently, CALABARZON is looking at more collaborations with private sector stakeholders to refresh the region’s reputation.

“The launch of Visit the Philippines 2015 in our region is the start of numerous activities so that our partners will be energized and know the direction we are headed. Events will depend on how vibrant the sector would be next year. This is what we would like to do, create action, coming from both local government units and the private sector,” she added.

DOT spokesperson Arturo Boncato Jr., for his part, encouraged the CALABARZON officials to start identifying major events for next year that would help attract both domestic and international tourists.

“We want to emphasize the role of regions to help the country achieve its goal of 10 million international arrivals in 2016. This is the most crucial part of what we are doing,” Boncato said.

“We are now towards the last part of our effort, let us not waver, let us continue with this kind of energy, open new destinations, look for investors and bring them here,” he added, expressing confidence that this would all happen even before the end of 2016.