Philippines

The Department of Tourism (DOT) welcomes the impending appointment of Mayor Christina G. Frasco as its new Secretary with high hopes that the momentum that we have generated over the past few months toward the revival, recovery, and resiliency of the tourism industry will be carried over to the new administration.
The transition team of the DOT is ready to welcome and brief the new Secretary and her team for a smooth turnover. Among those that we will be turning over is the National Tourism Development Plan (NTDP) 2022 to 2028.
We will also be turning over the reformulated Tourism Response and Recovery Plan (TRRP), which served as the department’s road map to the tourism sector’s full recovery from the devastating effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Moreover, the next administration is assured that the DOT has been operating in utmost accountability and transparency, receiving an ‘unqualified opinion’ from the Commission on Audit (COA), the highest rating that indicates that all of our financial statements are reported fairly and correctly, for two straight years. The last time the DOT was awarded this rating was back in 2009.
The DOT has also maintained the agency’s ISO 9001:2015 certification for four years in a row and has successfully expanded its Quality Management System (QMS) coverage to three additional regional offices, DOT-Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), Regions 4A (CALABARZON), and Region 10 (Northern Mindanao).
I will bow out of the department secure in the knowledge that the industry is back on its feet: borders have reopened and the livelihood of those dependent on tourism has gradually been restored. The new tourism chief can bank on the remarkable gains of the Duterte Administration that have piloted sustainable and regenerative tourism practices, not only on Boracay Island but also in many tourist destinations across the country.
This being said, the Department is ready to make the next big strides to even greater heights under the leadership of the new secretary.