The Department of Tourism (DoT) said on Wednesday that loans and incentives are being lined up for tourism establishments that need to expand their operations and services.
This is part of efforts to make travel “more fun” in the Philippines, as the country’s new brand campaign goes.
The DoT has set a target of attracting an aggregate of 10 million foreign tourists to the Philippines by 2016 to help curb poverty, Undersecretary Daniel Corpuz said.
Rolando Canizal, director of the DoT Office of Tourism Planning, Research and Information Management, said Wednesday that tourism entrepreneurs can apply for incentives with the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (Tieza).
Tieza, an attached agency of the DoT, can give both fiscal and nonfiscal incentives.
“Fiscal incentives include tax holidays and duty-free importation of materials and equipment. For example, a small hotel can expand and import an elevator duty-free. For nonfiscal incentives, they may want to hire a foreign chef, say a Japanese chef, to upgrade services and Tieza can enable them to do that,” Canizal said.
On loans, the agency is talking to Tieza, the Development Bank of the Philippines and other institutions that can offer loans to owners of tourism establishments ranging from family-owned bed and breakfasts to boutique hotels and even large hotels, Canizal said.
“The DBP used to have a window especially for small establishments and now they are thinking of reopening it so we are talking to them,” Canizal said.
DoT is also developing guidelines for mandatory accreditation for all types of tourism establishment.
Large establishments and most medium-sized establishments are expected be accredited this year. Small establishments will be phased in starting this year, considering their limited manpower and resources to go through the accreditation process, Canizal said.
Small and niche tourism establishments are especially important in island-destinations while big hotels are much needed in landlocked beach areas like the Ilocos region and Zambales and Iloilo provinces, said consultant Narzalina Z. Lim of Asia Pacific Projects Inc.
About 17 percent of all tourism establishments in the Philippines are on expansion mode until 2014, Canizal said, citing data from the National Statistics Office survey in 2009.
The number of domestic tourists alone is expected to reach 3.3 million by 2014 from 2.8 million in 2010, Lim said.—Riza T. Olchondra