Jobs for the tourism sector

• Source:http://www.sunstar.com.ph/cebu/business/2016/03/31/jobs-tourism-sector-465158
• Wednesday, March 30, 2016

By Katlene O. Cacho (PR)

THE Tourism Committee of this year’s Cebu Business Month (CBM) is targeting 100 tourism-related companies to participate in the Tourism Job Fair on June 15.

CBM’s Tourism Committee chair Julie Najar said various job opportunities in the tourism sector, both local and overseas, await job seekers during the whole day fair in Marco Polo Plaza Cebu.

Najar, who is also the president of Hotel, Resort, and Restaurant Association of Cebu (HRRAC), said they will invite hotel properties, travel agencies, airlines, cruise liners, manpower services, among others to participate in the job fair.

The activity, she said, aims to help job seekers land their desired job in the growing tourism sector.

According to the DOT, the continued growth of the country’s tourism sector did not only generate healthy revenues for the country but also decent jobs and livelihood to Filipinos.

For 2015, tourism employment is estimated at 4.99 million, with a share of 12.7 percent to national employment, already representing 4.8 percent growth from 2014, said Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez, Jr.

Total inbound tourists surpassed the five million mark last year. The country welcomed 5.3 million visitors, up by 10.91 percent from the 4.8 million foreign visitors recorded in 2014.

Aside from the job fair, the CBM’s Tourism Committee will likewise hold a forum the following day, June 16.

The forum is centered on the use of digital technology in enhancing Cebu’s competitiveness in global tourism. Najar disclosed five speakers with rich tourism and technology background have been invited to speak before the academe and stakeholders.

Some of the topics that will be discussed include the advantage of digital technology in tourism marketing; and the use of social media in public relations.

Other tourism-related activities during the whole month of June include the Hotel Cebu Business Month Room Package, where various hotels offer attractive room rates for June promoting “Cebu in a Bag” booklet of discount coupons from participating establishments.

There will also be an activity called “Day-Off Cebu,” a whole day tour of things to do, places to see, flavors to taste and experience, and a two-hour sunset cruise of the Mactan Channel with cocktails.

Meanwhile, the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI), which organizes the CBM, signed a memorandum of agreement with the City of Cebu during its quarterly general membership meeting last month at SM Seaside as testament of the functional collaboration between partners and to develop governance protocols.

Signing on behalf of the CCCI was then president Ma. Teresa B. Chan while Mayor Michael Rama represented the Cebu City Government.

The MOA aims to strengthen the collaboration between CCCI and the government in the fulfillment of shared objectives and deliverables on programs, projects, policies and action agenda at various levels.