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Philippines forms tourism board |
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By Ollie Quiniquini
BERLIN The Philippine tourism machinery is undergoing a major overhaul that will see promotions handled by a new entity as early as next month.
Philippine president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has appointed five private sector board members of the new Philippine Tourism Promotions Board (PTPB), which will handle the country’s marketing efforts.
| | Albana: consultations to continue |
The board members, serving a three-year term, are Rose Libongco (Hotel Sales and Marketing Association) for the accommodation sector; Felix Cruz (Board of Airline Representatives) for Land, Sea and Air Transport Services; Dexter Deyto (PACEOS) for MICE; Cesar Cruz (Philtoa) for travel and tours; and Marceline Clemente (other tourism enterprises).
They will be joined by five permanent representatives from different government agencies, including the Department of Foreign Affairs.
The PTPB board will convene on March 18 to elect a chief operating officer who will run the day-to-day affairs of the new entity under a six-year term.
The Philippine Convention and Visitors Corporation (PCVC) would then be dissolved and promotional funds transferred from the Department of Tourism (DoT) to the PTPB, said DoT undersecretary Eduardo Jarque, who added that long-time PCVC head, Daniel Corpuz, will be retiring on June 30.
Michael Albana, executive vice president of the Tourism Congress, the private sector consultative body that nominated the PTPB board members, said: “We’ll now move on to other matters and continue our meetings with the DoT Secretary.”
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