THE composition of the policy-making Tourism Congress should be changed to allow non-industry players to come in so it will have more objective views that will sustain the growth of Philippine tourism, Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) Vice President for Tourism Samie Lim on Wednesday said.
“A new Tourism Congress will be formed and I hope we will have the best and the brightest people who have the industry at heart and not their vested interest. The problem at getting people from the industry is they look at their own interest,” Lim said.
This, he said, has been the case in the past 30 years when the industry has not progressed substantially because it is run mainly by industry people.
“The people to sit there should have more objective views. We will not be able to transform the industry if the same people will be there,” he stressed. Ideally, Lim said at least 20 percent of the composition of the Tourism Congress should be from outside the industry.
He cited as example the new St. Luke’s Medical Center management, which hired a nondoctor to run the facility. Under the Tourism Act of 2009 (Republic Act 9593), the Tourism Congress acts as the private sector consultative body to assist the government in the development, implementation and coordination of Philippine tourism policy.
“The Tourism Congress shall adopt and ratify its constitution; shall elect its officers; and, shall establish a secretariat, both for the Tourism Congress as a whole and for component sectors. It shall also nominate such representatives as required under this Act. Finally, it shall endeavor to meet annually to carry out its mandate,” the law says.
Lim said the industry has always been parochial, and this has stunted the growth of Philippine tourism.
As it is now, Lim said the growth of tourism will surely be pushed back with the replacement of former Tourism Secretary Alberto Lim. Before he resigned in August, the former secretary also pushed for the revamp of the Tourism Congress to allow wider representation.
