DAVAO CITY, 21 July — Voted as the liveliest city in the country by Asiaweek last year, the booming city has suffered a lot in tourism arrivals since the Barcelo Pearl Farm incident and the presence of suspected kidnappers. To arrest the perception problem on Davao City sparked by the Abu Sayyaf terrorism, private tourism stakeholders are now geared toward creating a comprehensive tourism marketing campaign for the city. This, being one of the resolutions pressed by the private sector, seeks the support of the Davao City Local Government Unit and the Department of Tourism Region 11 in promoting Davao as a prime site for meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions. Jason Magnaye, Executive Director of the Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc. said business sector sees the immediate need to improve the image of Davao City both in the foreign and domestic market to allow tourists and investments to come in. Businessmen, he said, pointed out that there is no actual peace and order problem in the city but there is just a need to correct the perception of risk. They believe it is now the best time to aggressively promote the city after its tourism industry was beaten by the ecomoting Davao, it is now time for the local government unit to take bold steps in promoting the city as destination. “Perception is the biggest enemy of tourism industry and there’s nothing really we can do about it because it is behavioral and it takes some time for travelers to think about visiting the country again,” he pointed out. (Adel Tolentino)
