Sunday, March 15, 2009

New tourism bill to boost industry

SENATOR Richard Gordon said Thursday that the consolidated report of the Congress on tourism measure that will grant incentives to players in the tourism sector has already been approved.

Gordon, principal author of the Tourism Bill, said the approval by Congress of the measure will boost the country's tourism industry, adding that such measure is expected to generate more jobs.

The senator, who chairs the Senate committee on tourism, was among the guests in Thursday's Tourism Related Industry Congress (Tricon) held at Grand Regal Hotel in Davao City.

The measure, Gordon said, is a consolidation of Senate Bill 2213 and House Bill 5229, an act declaring a national policy for tourism as an engine for investment, employment, growth and national development and strengthening of the Department of Tourism (DOT) and its attached agencies.

"This measure will definitely boost domestic tourism as it will provide the needed infrastructures to reinvigorate local productivity," Gordon said. He added "an increased productivity means more jobs for the people and more revenues for the government."

The measure, Gordon said, also seeks the establishment of tourism enterprise zones in Cebu, Davao, Bohol, Laguna, Cavite, Boracay, Palawan and Iloilo.

The establishment of tourism enterprise zones, Gordon said, will lure more foreign investors and tourists to visit these places that are rich in history and culture.

"With the implementation of this measure, the nation can have a better institution to regulate and promote tourism and install the necessary infrastructures to make our country truly world-class," he said.

He said through the new tourism law, the country "can have more jobs for the people, who will no longer have to find for their future in foreign shores, but right here in our native Philippines."

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