Cebu City – To continuously draw in tourists to the country and further promote the Philippines as a top destination in the pacific, the government and private sector should come up with a 20-year marketing and promotions plan that will continuously entice foreigners to set foot here, a tourism stakeholder said last November 2.

During a press conference in Cebu City, tourism expert Dr. Robert Lim Joseph, chairman emeritus of the National Association of Independent Travel Agencies (Naitas), said that while the Department of Tourism (DoT) has been doing very well in promoting the country abroad, it has to come up with a sustainable plan.

For the tourism industry, in Cebu for instance, to achieve its goals, the government and private sectors have to draft and implement a master plan that integrates infrastructure development and policies related to other aspects of the province’s growth.

Joseph, who is also the honorary consul of the Republic of Latvia to the Philippines, pointed out the need for a master plan that would not only guide developments in the tourism sector but also lay out guidelines how other sectors — like agriculture — can be harnessed to attract more tourists.

“There has to be a master plan. We cannot just put a hospital next to a resort. There has to be zoning. If there is no planning, there will be problems,” he told news reporters.

He also urged the government to further allocate funds for the promotion of tourism in the country as he stressed that the master plan must be sustainable and implemented properly and that the branding of the country does not change every time somebody takes over.

“Unless the government sees to it that tourism is the number one industry of the country, unless people are serious and money is allocated for promotion and marketing of tourism, we cannot see growth in the industry,” said Joseph.

He, however, lauded the DoT for doing well with the limited budget for marketing and promotions.