Tourism players craft plans to promote green tourism

CEBU, Philippines - Tourism stakeholders from Cebu and Bohol have crafted the 2014 Sustainable Strategies and Actions to further promote green tourism in the two provinces.

This year, the key implementers of the Promotion of Green Economic Development  Project, once again convened to revisit and assess 2013 and craft plans for 2014.

The group highlighted the changes in framework conditions in Cebu and Bohol brought about by the 7.2 magnitude earthquake that hit Bohol and Cebu and the debilitating impact of supertyphoon Yolanda in the northern parts of Cebu.

Also embedded in the planning session are learning and retooling sessions with inputs coming from different resource persons, one of whom was Thomas Finkel, representing COMO, a leading consultancy firm in Germany.

The Promotion of Green Economic Development (ProGED) Project is a development cooperation project jointly implemented by the Deutsche Gesell schaftfür Internationale Zusammenarbeit  GIZ and Department of Trade and Industry and funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development BMZ with the aim of increasing the competitiveness of MSMEs by adopting environment friendly and climate smart strategies.

It will run for three years, from January 2013 to December 2015 and will be piloted in the tourism value chain in Bohol and Cebu.

As a federally owned enterprise, GIZ supports the German Government in achieving its objectives in the field of international cooperation for sustainable development.

Last year, environment-friendly and climate smart practices of enterprises in the tourism sectors of Bohol and Cebu were shared to their peers to encourage others to follow suit.

These practices such as changing light bulbs to LED lights, retrofitting existing buildings to optimize natural lighting and natural ventilation, recycling waste water through reed bed system and linking with local suppliers of organic products, not only allowed them to contribute to conserving the environment, reducing impact of human activities to the environment, reducing greenhouse gas emissions  and promoting sustainable production and consumption but also  resulted to lowering  their cost of operations.

As a result of the sensitization activities via fora, exhibits, testimonials, audio visuals and printed materials, the enterprises in the tourism sectors of Bohol and Cebu initiated steps towards greening.

Drivers from the transport sector went into training on fuel efficient driving, resorts worked with service providers to conduct energy audit and consult on green designs, toxic waste collector as well as suppliers of equipment to reduce electricity and water costs were introduced to the enterprises, and service providers worked together to come up with green service packages affordable and accessible to MSMEs. (FREEMAN)