CEBU CITY — The private sector of the tourism industry represented by the Tourism Congress is urging the Government to set up a public relations mechanism to address the issues currently hounding the tourism industry following the bungled hostage-taking crisis at the Quirino Grandstand in Manila last Monday.

“We urged the Government in our Industry Paper to put in place crisis public relations management mechanisms precisely because we have not addressed this properly in the past to the detriment of our tourism stakeholders,” said the Board of Trustees and officers of the Tourism Congress in a statement. Said Congress is composed of 44 tourism organizations representing primary and secondary tourism enterprises as well as allied and relevant enterprises in the tourism sector throughout the country.

Headed by its President Alma Rita Jimenez, the Congress expressed its sympathy to those who were hurt and wounded and to the families of those who were killed by hostage-taker, Manila Senior Inspector, Capt. Rolando Mendoza of the Manila Police District. “Indeed, such deplorable incident has no place in today’s civilized society,” the group said.

“We are concerned with the repercussions this incident will mean to our industry. Already Hong Kong has issued a black alert travel advisory for Philippines to their nationals. We expect that others would follow suit,” the statement read.

The Congress officials lamented the lack of a “visible strong and calming presence of a high-ranking official directing the actions (of the hostage crisis resolution team). They should have seen us helping the victims ensuring their comfort post-incident, commiserating with their families – even apologizing to them for this unfortunate incident which nobody wanted to happen. They should have seen us taking care of them.”

They called on the Government to, posthaste, address the issue of safety and security of “our visitors and make this top priority,” and urged the “establishment of a crisis PR plan that can immediately manage the repercussions of incidents like this.”