Newly-appointed Tourism Secretary Christina Garcia-Frasco is pushing for a more collaborative and consultative approach to make the tourism industry “one of the major economic pillars for the Philippines”.
“We must not only continue to do the work that we have been doing, but we must exert extra effort to give everything that we can within what is humanly possible, to ensure that our department becomes one of the major economic contributors in the Marcos administration,” Garcia-Frasco said.
“I have full trust in the workforce of the Department of Tourism because you have been forged in the fire of the pandemic. We’ve been through it, we have survived, and we have thrived. There is no other challenge that we could not possibly surmount,” she said during the flag-raising ceremony at the head office of DOT in Makati City.
She said she would travel across major tourism centers and destinations to hear the voice of stakeholders and move forward on a shared tourism governance approach towards tourism industry recovery.
“This week, I will be starting my listening tour as the secretary of the Department of Tourism to see for myself and to hear the challenges faced by our regional offices and tourism stakeholders across Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. The objective being to be at the front and center of the prevailing issues that need to be addressed and to craft solutions that will ensure the full rehabilitation and recovery of the tourism industry,” she said.
She said she is fully aware of the service and the sacrifice of the frontliners not only in health sector but also in local government units, national government and the tourism industries.
Garcia-Frasco underscored the importance of being “in touch with the realities on the ground” on top of focusing on the crafting of national policy.