DOT adds golf tourism in industry portfolio

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Tourism is promoting golf tourism in a bid to widen its tourism industry portfolio.

During the first Philippine golf summit last November 28, Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco highlighted the potential of golf tourism to boost the Philippine tourism as the country has more than 100 golf courses in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

Apart from this, the country is also considered a home of one of the oldest golf courses in Asia. Iloilo’s Santa Barbara, built in 1907, is touted as the “oldest” golf course of the country.

“Golf tourism represents a promising frontier for the Philippines and this summit highlights our proactive approach in understanding, nurturing, listening to the golf tourism industry and developing this niche as part of our tourism industry portfolio,” Frasco said.

It is also seen to contribute billions to the economy and help place the Philippines as a “global hub for sports tourism.”

The tourism chief said that it is about time for the government and the private sector to work together to tap the full potential of golf tourism.

“Today marks the Philippines' long overdue foray into the multi-billion golf tourism industry that will no doubt have an enormous impact on the Philippine economy. And it's about time that the government and the private sector come together to converge and to collaborate,” Frasco said.

With the conclusion of the first Philippine Golf Tourism Summit, Frasco is bullish that it can pave the way for a government tourism policy on golf tourism.

“We are hopeful that this first Philippine Golf Tourism Summit can be a catalyst and serve as a platform to gather insights, recommendations, and concerns, paving the way for informed decisions and strategies as well as a unified national government tourism policy towards golf tourism that can be aligned with our local government units all over the country,” she said.

The summit, organized by the DOT’s Office of Product Development of Golf Tourism and Special Projects, had variety of panelists from the golf industry.

These include Business Mirror Golf editor Mike Besa who tackled “The Potential of Golf Tourism”; Outlast Sports and Entertainment Chief Executive Officer Salauddin SS who discussed “The Right Market”; and Philippine Tour Operator Association President Fe Abling-Yu who talked about “First Tee With the Tourism Industry”; and Lipa, Batangas Vice Governor and founder of Golf Batangas Mark Leviste.