As a way to push the recovery of the tourism industry in Central Visayas, the Regional Development Council 7 (RDC7) endorses the tourism projects for Bohol to the Department of Tourism (DOT) based on a report reaching The Bohol Tribune today, Sept. 20, 2020.
In the Sept. 18, 2020 meeting of the RDC7, the council approved for endorsement the tourism programs of the said province and at the same time included the same projects in the Central Visayas Regional Development Investment Program 2017-2022.
“Tourism is one of the hard-hit sectors during this pandemic but while tourism activities are in a standstill, there are opportunities also to make use of this window where we can move on to certain projects,” Virgilio Espeleta, the chairman of the Economic Development Committee of the RDC7 said in a report.
The approved projects in Bohol are under the Transforming Communities towards Resilient, Inclusive, and Sustainable Tourism (TouRIST) program, the report adds.
The projects are now endorsed to the DOT central office for funding, the report bares.
The TouRIST projects endorsed to the DOT for Bohol are Assistance to Reinvigorate the Tourism Industry (ART) Value Chain program, developing Public Markets into Bohol Destination Markets,Tourist Site Enhancement and Management, Hygiene Preparedness in Tourism sites, Decompression Chamber system, Sea Ambulance, Bohol Water and Sanitation Project (Phase 1), and Solid Waste Management Facility, according to a report from Capitol media.
Moreover, the TouRIST program aims to improve access to priority infrastructure, strengthen local economic development, and strengthen disaster and crisis preparedness in select tourist destinations, which includes Bohol, the same report from Capitol media adds.
In a related development, Bohol governor Arthur Yap thanked the RDC7 for endorsing the projects for Bohol under the TouRISM program. The Capitol media report says the total budget of tourism projects for Bohol under the said program is about P3.555 billion.