Cotabato City organizes tourism promotion board

TOURISM PROMOTION --- City Tourism Officer GurlieFrondoza (seated, fifth from left) flanks with the new set of officers of the Cotabato City Tourism Promotion Board which assured to help boost tourism potentials of the city. (GILMHAR A. LAO – MINDANAO EXPOSE’)

COTABATO CITY --- The city government of Cotabato organized last April 3 the City Tourism Promotion Board with the aim to boost tourism activities.

Gurlie Frondoza, City Tourism Officer, said that in year 2011 the city government under the late mayor Japal J. Guiani, Jr. issued Executive Order No. 34 giving recognition to the Cotabato City Tourism Promotion Board with the sole purpose of becoming an umbrella organization of different members or institutions in the private sectors.

“They will primarily be responsible in encouraging, promoting, and developing tourism as a major socio-economic activity to generate foreign currency and employment and to spread the benefits of tourism to both the private and public sectors in Cotabato City,” said Frondoza.

Frondoza stressed that the current leadership of City Mayor Atty. Frances Cynthia Guiani-Sayadi has always been supportive of tourism development programs because in advocating them, the industry is “equated with more jobs and even a stable economic activity.”

“Right now, we are doing our best to have strong linkages, very strong relationship with our private sectors to make sure that this is going to be a partnership, not just amongst the people in the local government. We will involve the private sector as well, which also includes the academe,” she added.

Frondoza said the Tourism Promotion Board will be involved in the framing of  tourism development plans and promotion.

“We have the marching orders from the city mayor. In fact, we have just started with the tourism development plan. Our target is on the second quarter that we can present and adapt this plan. At the moment, we are also planning to strengthen our festivals. We will make sure that we will bring in more people to Cotabato City,” she said.

Further, Frondoza said Cotabato City has established the highest percentage in tourist arrivals in Region-12.

“It was the biggest tourist arrival increase in Region-12. When I am asked why we have at least 50 percent increase in tourist arrivals, I would tell them that last year (2016) we launched the tourism awareness year, wherein regularly we checked in the figures with our partners from the private sector most especially in our hotels and other accommodation establishments to make sure that information given to us are accurate and real,” she claimed.

In working with the local government, she said “the number one responsibility of the Tourism Promotion Board is to help in the promotion of Cotabato City. We will also encourage people to come to Cotabato City and join us in our festivals,” said Frondoza.

In his message, Secretary to the Mayor AnicetoRasalan, who represented Mayor Guiani-Sayadi, related the importance of tourism promotion among Cotabateños.

“For instance, let us not forget that we have our very own local delicacies tinagtag, kumukunsi, and tinapayan. We can first work on that,” he said.

The new set of City Tourism Promotion Board officers are Bai Sandra Siang (executive chairman), Architect Christine Mañara (vice chairman), STI College Cotabato (secretary), “Kap” JanethDalagan (treasurer), and Gilmhar Lao (information officer).

The Board of Directors are composed of Pete Marquez (business sector);  Estosan Garden Hotel (restaurant and hotel sector); RVM College of Cotabato and Department of Education (education sector); Manny Balabaran, Omar Patadon, and RicUday (culture and heritage); Norma Yap and BaiKabaiCanaya (barangay tourism); GurlieFrondoza and AmmarahDumama (city government).

Executive Chairman Bai Sandra Siang thanked the city government of Cotabato and her fellow officers on this new challenge. “May we work hand in hand to fully develop tourism activities in our beloved City of Cotabato.”(GILMHAR A. LAO– MINDANAO EXPOSE’)