I’M HOTEL Festive Offerings 2023

The 2023 Winter Quarterly Edition

Southwest Tours

DOT chief joins high-level UNWTO Global Education Forum as panelist

The Philippines joins UNWTO General Assembly as Vice President for East Asia and the Pacific; prestigious global position held again after 24 years

DTI’s Go Lokal! Program teams up with Okada Manila to propel small businesses

Department of Tourism partners with MVP Group of Companies for communication and medical resiliency in tourism destinations

Right-to-L: DOT Assistant Secretary Rica Bueno, DOT Undersecretary Arturo Boncato Jr., Steraclean President Col. Achilles Estravila, PLDT Smart Foundation President Ma. Esther Santos, Makati Medical Center Foundation Executive Director Marge Barro, Smart Public Affairs AVP/Center Head Maria Jane Paredes, Senior Manager International Roaming and Consumer Business Smart Communications Noel Pineda (back), One Meralco President Jeffrey Tarayao, Executive Director TV5 Alagang Kapatid Foundation, Inc. Menchie Silvestre (back), and Metro Pacific Investments Corporation Melody Del Rosario.

Boracay, Aklan – The Department of Tourism (DOT) partners with Tulong Kapatid to improve Boracay Island’s health and communications portfolio.

Tulong Kapatid is the social responsibility consortium of the MVP Group of Companies.

“The DOT acknowledges the initiatives of the private sector in improving the living conditions on the island,” Tourism chief Bernadette Romulo-Puyat said.

“What we have really laid out is to address major issues that we’ve been grappling for a while specially in destinations like Boracay. This (partnership) came out on an instant type of request and recognition of issues and then the private sector comes in to help out the national government. Exactly that bayanihan spirit that we’ve been espousing,” DOT Undersecretary Arturo Boncato Jr. added during the turn over ceremony held at a private resort in Boracay Island.

In support of the Department of Health’s (DOH) call for personal hygiene, Makati Medical Foundation, along with SMART, the PLDT-Smart Foundation, and the Metro Pacific Foundation under Tulong Kapatid, are donating a total of 60 automated sensor hand sanitizers to the hospital, airport, seaport terminals, and other public places in the island.

The Tulong Kapatid HEART (Health and Emergency Response Team) Stations will also be placed throughout Boracay.

Makati Medical Foundation and its private sector partners donated medical equipment that will level up the Ciriaco S. Tirol Hospital from an infirmary to a level 1 trauma hospital. Long-term trainings and technology transfer will also be conducted, including the implementation of a Pandemic Preparedness Program to help bring back tourism confidence here in Boracay from a health security perspective.

Smart Communications earlier provided Boracay and other DOT Regional Offices with mobile SAT phones, which aids communication during calamities or other emergencies when the normal 2G signal and internet network are down.

“The threat that COVID-19 poses is serious and we are not taking it lightly; however, we must stress that travel around the Philippines is still possible and reasonably safe when all recommended health protocols and precautionary measures are strictly observed,” Sec. Puyat said.

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Stay updated with news and information from the Department of Tourism by visiting their website at http://www.tourism.gov.ph.

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