Print media's role in tourism dev't underscored

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine STAR president and chief executive officer Miguel Belmonte yesterday underscored the important role played by newspapers in promoting the growth of the nation’s tourism industry.

Belmonte, in particular, shared the contributions made by The STAR with officers and members of the Rotary Club of Manila as he received one of 10 tourism awards for the print media category during rites held at the Manila Polo Club in Forbes Park, Makati City.

“You would notice that we regularly feature local hotels and resorts every week, at least two being featured, and not just in Luzon, but also resorts all over the country. Our feeling is that we have all these nice places to visit and we have these businessmen who have invested good, hard-earned money in developing these resorts, so our role is to make our people aware that these places exist,” Belmonte said.

“No matter how beautiful it may be, if people do not know about it, who would come and visit? We feel that we are playing an important part in that sense – that we provide information to potential tourists, both local and foreign,” he added.

Now on its eighth year, the Rotary Club of Manila’s Tourism Awards are given to persons, businesses and institutions that have contributed much to making the Philippines a top tourist destination.

Aside from Belmonte, other awardees for this year are former agrarian reform secretary and now Alaminos, Pangasinan Mayor Hernani Braganza, who was awarded for his drive to develop tourism in the Hundred Islands; Tourism Undersecretary Daniel Corpuz (government); Vincent Golangco (online media); Ruth von Sibenthal Hung (tourism education); Jose Acuzar (tourism destination); former model and actress Bessie Badilla (online travel and tours); Henry Chusuey, Boracay Regency Group chairman (resort category); Ayala Corp. president Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala (tourism investment); and Andrew Tan, owner of Resorts World Manila (hotel category).

In his acceptance speech, Belmonte said that his experiences as a hotelier had contributed to The STAR’s strength in promoting tourism for the country.

A graduate of the University of the Philippines, Belmonte joined The STAR as its personnel manager in 1987 following a two-year stint with the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. An adopted son of Manila, Belmonte was also conferred last year with the Medallion of Honor as one of the 10 Outstanding Manilans.

“Not many of you know that before I joined the newspaper business, I was first and foremost a hotelier who was at the frontlines of promoting our country’s tourism. Although I had the flimsiest of reasons for taking up a course in hotel and restaurant administration because my brother, Isaac, mistakenly recommended it as the course with the least math and the most girls, it was a job I immensely enjoyed doing,” he said.

“I guess even now as a businessman running the Philippines’ most successful newspaper chain, I am still very much the individual with the heart that beats for the charms and beauty of his own country,” he said.

Meanwhile, Tourism Undersecretary Daniel Corpuz said the country’s tourism industry is on an upswing.

Corpuz said that there were 3 million foreign visitors to the country last year.

These tourists, he said, spent P2.9 billion in tourism-related purchases and generated jobs for 3.7 million Filipinos.

Corpuz said that if the upswing will be sustained, the Philippines hopes to attract 10 million foreign tourists by 2016.