Puerto Princesa City formalizes the convergence of tourism industry

On December 13, 2018, Puerto Princesa City Mayor Lucilo Bayron institutionalized through an Executive Order (EO) the regular inter-agency coordination meetings among relevant government agencies and local tourism industry stakeholders to strengthen local tourism governance. The EO formally constitutes the Tourism Sector Inter-Agency Coordination Committee comprising of national government agencies providing support to the local tourism industry. The EO also mandates the regular conduct of inter-agency meetings to discuss issues and concerns of the local tourism sector. For this year, four inter-agency meetings have been conducted, with the most recent one held on December 13. More than 30 representatives from various agencies and tourism industry groups attended the meeting where projects and activities were discussed. These include the 1) continuing international flight services from South Korea and Taiwan; 2) influx of more than 1 million domestic and foreign tourist arrivals for 2018; 3) planned 12 international cruise ship calls at the Puerto Princesa Port with 3,700 foreign passengers in 2019; 4) aggressive marketing campaign targeting the Chinese and Korean markets; and 5) preparations for the international Iron Man competition in Puerto Princesa in 2019.