THE East Asia Inter-Regional Tourism Forum (Eatof) gathered government, academic and travel exponents of tourism from Oct. 19 to 23, at Yogyakarta, Indonesia, with the theme, “Managing Sustainable Tourism Through Local Community Empowerment.”
The Cebu Province delegation was led by Eatof pioneers, Cebu Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale, tourism consultant Dawnie Roa, protocol officer and events manager Grace Paulino and academic chair MCE with board member Yolanda Daan; for the buyer/seller group, Alice Queblatin and Marget Villarica; cultural performance, Junjet Primor, Rudy Aviles and University of Cebu dancers; tourism stakeholders, Betsy Quisumbing with her peers.
Eatof’s member provinces: Cebu, Philippines; Gangwon, Korea; Luang Prabang, Laos; Jilin, China; Quang Ninh, Vietnam; Sarawak, Malaysia; Siem Reap, Cambodia; Tottori, Japan; Tuv, Mongolia and Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
In September 1999, in Seoul, Korea, the provincial governments of the Philippines, Thailand, Korea, China, Russia, Malaysia, Japan, Mongolia and Indonesia conceived and organized Eatof. The Cebu Province hosted the Eatof twice during the terms of then governors Pabling Garcia and Gwendolyn Garcia.
Cebu Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale has always been the passionate advocator of Cebu’s tourism and handled the bilateral/ the standing committees and Governor’s conferences ably in all Eatof events.
I have been privileged to conceptualize and head the academic committee with Dr. Won of Korea since 1999. The academic sessions tackle tourism–based researches presented to the Assembly. They submit recommendations to the Governor’s Assembly for study and implementation.
This year, the “Cebu’s Governor’s Report” presented by Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale focused on the continuing programs of the Province of Cebu in eco–tourism projects (like farm–tourism); entrepreneurship; countryside development, featuring landmarks and products; linkages with the private sector, creative tourism activities—all involving the barangays, in cooperation with the private sectors. She commended and thanked Eatof for the help it extended for the survivors of super typhoon Yolanda in 2013, and for the success of all Eatof fora for more than a decade. In 2018, Tottori, Japan will host Eatof.
In the 2016 academic sessions, I demonstrated Cebu’s wealth of natural resources, topographic domains, historical and cultural roots and the people’s creativity and friendliness which make the place suitable for sustainable eco-tourism programs. Likewise, I accentuated the role of marketing in maintaining Cebu’s tourism programs, illustrated how Cebu processed its new brand, “Cebu, Where the Heart Sings!” and encouraged them to help “promote Cebu!” We ended up with the audience singing the brand theme song and the 10 lecturers each got the “Cebu, Where the Heart Sings!” t-shirt, donated by Islands Souvenirs last June 2016.
The Governors and the Academic Committees, firmed up the following recommendations: Strengthening the tourism clusters among Eatof members, particularly in academic research, cultural performances; information/website networking; faculty/youth exchange programs; and common tourism events like festivals, sports, among others; and community empowerment programs. Eatof will also revisit its manual and by-laws to cope with new thrusts and concerns.
(To be continued: The Batik and National Costume Night and the Borobudur Trip.)