The newly elected officers and trustees of the Philippine Travel Agencies Association (PTAA) took their oath before Department of Tourism (DOT) Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco recently at the New Coast Hotel Manila.
Frasco was the guest of honor and inducting officer at the induction ceremony of the national travel agenciesโ association.
In her address, the tourism chief thanked the stakeholders from the private sector for their continued collaboration with the DOT, citing that their sacrifices and efforts even during the height of the unprecedented crisis and other natural calamities that have paralyzed the industry have been very helpful for its recovery.
โ๐๐ข๐จ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฌ๐ข๐ข๐บ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ ๐ด๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐ฎ๐ข๐ต for the courage, tenacity, and perseverance that you have shown in these past few years that have been the most difficult for the tourism industry.โ
โ๐๐ข๐จ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฌ๐ข๐ข๐บ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ ๐ด๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐ฎ๐ข๐ต for the courage, tenacity, and perseverance that you have shown in these past few years that have been the most difficult for the tourism industry. Thank you to all of you for staying the course and for continuing to believe in the potential of Philippine tourism,โ the tourism head stressed.
โWe would not have been able to breach our tourism targets last year had it not been for your partnership and collaboration.โ
โWe would not have been able to breach our tourism targets last year had it not been for your partnership and collaboration,โ she added.
Last year, the Department has breached its target of 1.7 million tourist arrivals with 2.65 million international visitors, of which 75 percent constitute international travelers. This translated to over P208 billion in visitor receipts, clearly a huge economic gain for the Philippines.
Frasco noted that the partners from the industry have been very instrumental in achieving such figures.
With the DOT pronouncing yet new ambitious goals this year, she said: โWe asked for your continued collaboration with the DOT as we view you to be our essential partners in ensuring that we continue the gains that we have already had and that the Philippines continues to recover at a much faster pace than originally expected.โ
