GENERAL SANTOS CITY, (PNA) — Mindanao has remained on track towards meeting its targeted tourist arrivals for the year despite the setbacks brought about by the standoff in Zamboanga City, an official of the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) said.
Milva Carina, MinDA’s senior economic development specialist, said they remained hopeful that the island would able to meet, if not surpass, its recorded tourist arrivals in 2012 that reached close to 4.5 million.
She acknowledged that the recent crisis might adversely affect the number of tourist arrivals this year but noted that Mindanao has a lot to offer in terms of coping with the situation.
Carina said Mindanao is a big place and this fact should not prevent government agencies, the private sector and other tourism stakeholders to market and promote its tourism potentials.
“We are still hopeful that we will meet the target through the help and collaborative efforts of the government agencies and the private sector,” Carina said during the regional tourism summit here over the weekend.
She lauded the efforts of the Department of Tourism (DOT) to gather tourism stakeholders and government agencies to learn more about the tourism agenda and the challenges for Mindanao.
The regional tourism summit was one of the highlights of DOT Region 12’s celebration of the tourism week, which focused on the promotion of the area’s newly-launched “12th Paradise” tourism brand.
Carina said one way of marketing Mindanao is to write positive stories about how beautiful and friendly it is to tourists.
“For every one negative story about Mindanao, let us have at least five or more positive stories so that our efforts of promoting it will not be put to waste,” she said.
She added that MinDA is now gearing up for massive tourism and investment promotion efforts for Mindanao in partnership with the private sector.
“These are anchored on our thrust to ensure that Mindanao’s tourism destinations are accessible to both the local and international markets,” Carina added.