Albay-Sorsogon-Masbate tour package pushed LEGAZPI CITY— To further boost tourism in the Bicol Region, the Regional Development Council here has formed the Albay-Masbate-Sorsogon Tourism Alliance (Almasorta), an integrated and comprehensive promotion strategy to market the potentials of the three Bicol provinces, eyeing some 650,000 annual foreign tourist arrivals within five years. RDC Chair and Albay Gov. Joey Salceda spearheaded the organization of the Almasorta and signed an agreement of group cooperation with Masbate Gov. Rizalina Seachon-Lanete and Sorsogon Gov. Raul Lee. The alliance is a pioneering concept in tourism promotion strategy, Salceda said. The Almasorta complements another Bicol regional tourism cluster already in place– the Catanduanes-Camarines Sur-Camarines Norte Tourism Link (CCTL). The Department of Tourism led by Regional Director Maria “Nini” Ravanilla and the provincial government of Albay plan to introduce Almasorta to Internationale Tourismus-Börse-Berlin, the world’s largest tourism trade fair, where it would showcase the wonders of Albay, Sorsogon and Masbate provinces. The Almasor cluster needs the completion of several priority projects for its external market access, including the P3.6B Southern Luzon International Airport in Daraga, Albay, to be finished in 2014; the modernization of the south railways under the Department of Transportation and Communications with the south central station in Comun, Camalig, Albay, and the extension of lines to Legazpi City and to Matnog, Sorsogon; the proposed four-lane Naga-Legazpi freeway system, which will link CCTL with ALMASOR; the proposed P250M Mayon International Convention Center; an d, the P278M Albay Sports Center, in time for Albay’s hosting of the 2015 Palarong Pambansa. Salceda said the alliance was initiated to ensure a stronger and more cohesive tourism campaign among the three provinces, which all have their inherent world-class tourism potentials that will require better market positioning and promotion. He said 2013 will be better than 2012. “For this year, we expect to sustain, if not surpass, the 2012 performance due to aggressive foreign reintroduction of Albay’s participation in the Berlin ITB, closer collaboration with key tourism stakeholders, like Misibis group and Oriental Hotel in promotion, and full launch of Almasor as a package which enhances the structural attractiveness of all three provinces in synergistic positioning and brand franchising,” Salceda said. The RDC chair said that since the creation of Almasorta in March 2012, the benefits to Albay, Masbate, and Sorsogon have been significant. “Without the Almasorta, there would have been difficulties in funding and we would have fallen into the same funding trap of other areas,” Salceda said. He said many infra projects, which were difficult to fund before became financially feasible under the Almasorta; first, the base is not just one province but all three, so there is economies of scale and critical mass; second, the infra projects were linked to tourism and under the Aquino administration, there is a significant annual budget in the Department of Public Works and Highways that are under the direction of the Department of Tourism. With the creation of Almasorta, the Aquino government infused funds for the development of the Masbate City Road Project with P400M, the West Ticao Coastal Tourist Highway, with P250M, and the Sto. Niño-Guinhadap-Monreal Road, with P250M. These funds are for Masbate alone. For Sorsogon province, the Donsol-Gimagaan road has P200M; Sta. Cruz-Donsol road, P150M, and Donsol-Guinobatan, P901M. For Albay, the Cagraray Circumferential Road has P440M; Guinobatan-Jovellar-Donsol road, P901M, and Guicadale (Guinobatan, Damalig, Daraga, Legazpi City) roads, P217M. Earlier, Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez Jr. approved a P1.4B tourism support infrastructure package for Albay: the P440M Cagraray Circumferential Road in Bacacay town, and the P870M road that directly links Libon, Albay with Donsol, Sorsogon, home to the world famous Butanding or sperm whale. The provinces of Albay and Camarines Sur are the region’s top tourist destinations in the countryside even before the completion of the Southern Luzon International Airport wherein tourist arrivals perked up by 50 percent in Albay and 62 percent in Camarines Sur, contributing essentially to the economic growth and development in the countryside. The big influx of tourist arrivals in Bicol, Salceda said, will greatly help the economy of Bicol as more investments will thrive here. “With +49 percent arrival growth in 2012, Albay is the fastest tourism destination–almost doubling in domestic tourism and +23 percent in foreign tourism. With our target of 500,000 foreign tourists by 2017, we need to double our room capacity in the next two years. For 2013, we are looking at homestay program to fill the gap,” Salceda said. “Moreso, out of the 251,000 incremental tourists, Albay had a market share of 67 percent or 2 for every 3 new tourists went to Albay in 2012,” the governor added. Generally, Bicol posted about 2.9 million domestic and 772,886 foreign tourist arrivals or a total of 3.7 million visiting tourists last year, an increase of eight percent over the previous year
Posted on: Mon, 15 Jul 2013 03:33:18 +0000
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