MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Tourism is looking into the possibility of collaborating with Cambodia, particularly in heritage conservation and monitoring.
Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco and Cambodian Tourism Minister Dr. Thong Khon engaged in a bilateral meeting last Thursday, June 15 on the sidelines of the the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) Commission meetings and discussions in Phnom Penh.
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During the meeting, Frasco said that the Philippines values the long-standing ties with the Kingdom of Cambodia, citing the 66 years of diplomatic relations between the two nations.
She then expressed interest to collaborate with Cambodia, known for its three UNESCO World Heritage sites.
"At the same time, we commend the Kingdom of Cambodia for your great success, especially in terms of heritage conservation and management, and your ability to, on one hand, develop the tourism industry upon the strength of your heritage sites and all the other hand, ensure sustainability. Therefore, the Philippines is very interested in collaborating with Cambodia for purposes of developing joint efforts and exchange of best practices as far as heritage conservation and management," Frasco said.
Apart from the collaboration on heritage conservation and management, Frasco also offered to develop tourism manpower in both countries. She cited the Philippines’ strength in education tourism, particularly its English as a Second Language (ESL) program.
"We also recognize the great strides with which you had implemented the ASEAN -Mutual Recognition Arrangement on Tourism Professionals (MRA-TP) and we compliment the efforts you have made in upskilling your tourism workers. This is a priority as well for the Philippine government; therefore, we would be interested in exploring how we can work together in further developing our tourism manpower. In addition to that, we would be very happy to work with you as far as our ESL program," the tourism chief said.
"The Philippines has a very strong faculty for the English language, and we have a well-developed ESL program in the country. This is something we would love to be able to work with you on even as we are also interested in exploring how we may be able to work together in terms of medical tourism," she added.
Tourism and jobs
The two tourism ministers agreed to prioritize air access and route development between the two countries.
In 2016, the Philippines signed an implementation program for tourism cooperation Memorandum of Understanding with Cambodia. Frasco then said that the Philippines accepts Cambodia’s desire to renew the agreement. This was also welcomed by her counterpart in Cambodia.
Frasco thanked Cambodia for hosting more than 7,000 Filipinos working in the kingdom.
"We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for the warmth and the love with which you have received the Filipino people. The same treatment awaits you and the people of Cambodia whose tourists numbers we hope to be able to grow with the signing of our implementation program," the tourism secretary said.
In its National Tourism Development Plan for 2023 to 2028 unveiled in March, Frasco reiterated that the government wants to make the Philippines a "tourism powerhouse" in Southeast Asia.
In August last year, the DOT also renewed its ties with another Southeast Asian neighbor, Thailand.
Thailand — which expects tourist arivals of from 25 million to 30 million this year, according to a Bangkok Post report — pledged thousands of jobs in its hospitality industry, particularly in the accommodation sector for the Filipino tourism workforce.