A Package of Statistics in Support of the Tourism Industry in Albay /
Cynthia L. Perdiz.
- 221 leaves : color illustrations
Public Management Development Program.
Tourism industry is believed to be one of the social and economic activities with greater capacity to promote a sustainable and stable development. The industry has been considered as one of the generating motors of employment and economic incomes. The province of Albay is popularly known in the Philippines and around the world because of its attractive and panoramic views attributed tot he presence of Mayon Volcano. Aligning the programs of the government with he current development plan on poverty alleviation and inclusive growth, the Provincial Government of Albay believes that with tourism as its flagship program, the economic situation of the province would be better off. With a goal of reaching one (1) million tourists in 2017, the local government has to intensively promote tourism and comprehensively plan and invest in more tourism infrastructures and projects. The National Statistics Office ( Nnow, Philippines Statistics Authority or PSA) being the primary statistical arm of the government is mandated to produce and provide general-purpose statistics which can be used for planning and polic-making. Lack of provincial and municipal disaggregated tourism and related data is a constraint to broader and truthful analyzes of statistical trends. It is in this context that this Re- Entry Project (ReP) has beeb conceptualized and implemented in the hope that it can address the demand of the Provincial Government of Albay for Tourism data would accelerate the growth of toursim industry in the province. The ReP intervention started witht he creation of the ReP Core Team to facilitate planning, data collection, coordination and documentation. It was anchored on a strategic framework based on input-output model with the need to address tourism data through a process of gathering and compiling administrative-based, establishment-based and househoul- based data into one (1) package. Tourism data needs were identified through the conduct of the ReP Orientation and Stakeholders' Meeting/Focus Group Discussion among the stakeholders highlighted by SWOT analysis to assess the strenths, weaknesses, opportunites abd threats of the current tourism situation in the province. The ReP demonstrated the collaboration of various national government agencies, Local Government Units (LGUs) in Albay and the private sector in coming up with the Albay tourism Weblink(ATW), a web-based package of tourism statistics and related information that is readily accessible to data users, planners, decision-makers, researchers, academe and tourists themselves recognizing the essential functions of technology and social media through the facebook as an effective means of dissemination. The ATW is a web compilation of administrative sata such as tourist destinations, festivals, tourist arrivals, local cuisine and products, crime statictics, sports activities, climate and weather information, risks and disasters sourced from various government agencies and Local Government Units(LGUs). It also contains a directory of tourism establishments and tour packages provided by orivate establishments (ULE) conducted by NSO and socia-demographic characteristics of the population by municipality and barangay level taken fromt he results of the 2010 Census of Population and Housing (CPH). The ATW is a wrok-in progress as it was decided to have it in two (2) phases due to the scope of work to be done. The first phase comprises the thress(3) cities of Albay(Legazpi, Ligao and Tobaco) and nine municipalities (Boracay, Camalig, Daraga, Guinobatan, Jovellar, Malilipot, Polangui, Santo Domingo and Tiwi). The remaining municipalities will be included in the scecond phase of the ReP. Success full and lanching of the ReP first phase was conducted and was graced by Hon. Carmelita N. Ericta and alsmost all the stakeholders including the representatives of municipalities for the second phase of the ReP. Along with the ReP impplementation and documentation, a lof of lessongs were learned by the scholar both from its processes and as a public manager including the facilitative factors that helped its completion and the challenges met in managing the ReP and how it was addressed by the manager. All of these are shared in this report including the plans for its sustainability and plans of the scholar after the Public Management Development Program (PMDP).