Creating permanent positions for tourism officers in LGUs

MANILA, Philippines - In my interactions with local tourism officials and employees all over the country, I have long advocated for the creation of permanent positions for tourism officers in local government units (LGUs). As one who has been a Sangguniang Kabataan federation president, a member of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan, and eventually as governor of Pampanga, I have seen and appreciated the critical role of tourism in local development.

Unfortunately, the Local Government Code (LGC) of 1991 does not make the creation of local tourism officers mandatory. So what local governments usually do, as I did when I was governor, is to designate an employee holding another position as concurrent tourism officers. Others hire tourism officers on a job-order basis. This kind of ad-hoc approach does not augur well for the development of medium and long-term tourism strategies.

A year after the enactment of the Tourism Act in 2009, I began discussing with Sen. Manuel M. Lapid on the possibility of amending Sections 443, 454, 463 of the LGC of 1991 – making it mandatory for LGUs to appoint municipal, city, and tourism officers in areas where ”tourism is a significant industry.”

To advance the amendments, Sen. Lapid, who is the chair of the Senate Committee of Tourism,” filed Senate Bill 922, titled “An Act Amending Sections 443, 454 and 463 of Republic Act 7160, otherwise known as the Local Government Code of 1991.”

Since the amendment also falls within the scope of the Senate Committee on Local Government, both Sens. Lapid and Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., who heads the Local Government Committee, agreed to hold a joint committee meeting.

Days prior to the joint committee meeting, as chief operating officer (COO) of the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA), I was asked to submit a position paper on Senate Bill 922.

As COO of TIEZA, my position to support all the amendments as proposed by Sen. Lapid is based on the following considerations:

a)    Tourism has substantial impact on the  national and local economy;

b)    Tourism contributes to the goals of poverty reduction, job generation and inclusive growth  in the local level;

c)    Tourism is an essential driver for sustainable local development; and

d)    The creation of permanent positions for tourism officers in LGUs (province, city, and municipality) where tourism is a strong industry i shall enhance closer and better coordination between the national government agencies and LGUs.

Tourism is local. In a 2009 document titled, “Tourism in the Developing World,” M. Honey and R. Gilpin cited that tourism is consumed at the point of production so that it directly benefits the communities that provide the goods. Highly labor intensive, tourism provides employment for people with a wide range of skills, as well as the unskilled. Tourism enables communities that are poor in material wealth but rich in culture, history and heritage to use their unique characteristics as an income-generating comparative advantage.

To harness the full potentials of tourism in their communities, LGUs must integrate tourism programs and projects into their local development plans. But without the services of professional tourism officers, most LGUs find it difficult to define the medium and long term directions for the tourism industry to flourish in their areas.

This is unfortunate since, as shown in most local government units in various parts of the world, tourism could be adopted as a strategy for local development. In its 2012 report on the Philippine tourism industry, Arangkada Philippines observed that:

“Tourism development can have strong poverty reduction effects in remote and rural areas. It has been calculated that for every foreign tourist that visits the country and spends about a thousand dollars, one job for one year is supported. Each US$1 spent by a tourist to pay for accommodation services gets multiplied 2.1 times. Thus, a dollar spent by a tourist on accommodations generates a total of US$ 2.1 for the Philippine economy. The range of direct and indirect income effects of tourism is enormous, involving agriculture, industry, and services.”

It may be argued that the creation of permanent positions for tourism officers in LGUs would entail additional expense in terms of personnel services. While that is true, it is too small a price to pay for the benefits that LGUs could reap from the growth and development of its tourism industry.

Click to download the position paper submitted by Mark T. Lapid on Senate Bill No. 922

A public service announcement paid for by TIEZA.