PB creates Danao, Camotes tourism body

• Source: http://www.sunstar.com.ph/cebu/local-news/2015/07/06/pb-creates-danao-camotes-tourism-body-417402
• Monday, July 6, 2015

By Flornisa M. Gitgano

FOREIGN and local passengers from Danao port going to Camotes Island may soon travel with less worries and inconveniences.

The Provincial Board (PB) aimed to create the Danao City-Camotes Island Tourism Coordinating (DCITC) Task Force to strengthen the system within the port areas and make sure that equipment, such as first aid and life vests, are available in every vessel.

A proposed ordinance for the creation of a task force was approved on first reading during the PB’s regular session yesterday.

The DCITC Task Force Ordinance was referred to the committee on tourism and international affairs.

Safety

PB Member Carmen Remedios Durano-Meca, sponsor of the ordinance, said she came up with it so that passengers will travel safely to and from Camotes.

Meca said she received several complaints about the system, both in Danao port and Consuelo Wharf in San Francisco in Camotes Island, including problems in getting travel tickets.

Aside from this, the lack of first aid, life vest and other emergency equipment will be monitored by the task force, she said.

“Danao City Government has called a meeting with the Cebu Port Authority several times to solve the port system, but there are still complaints. So I think it really needs a coordination between Danao City and the island of Camotes,” Meca said.

According to the ordinance, the task force will serve “as the leading body for the promotion and the integration and coordination of tourist-related activities and policies” in Danao and Camotes.

Composition

The task force will be composed of the provincial tourism officer; mayors of Danao, Pilar, San Francisco, Poro and Tudela; tourism officers of the five local government units; and two representatives each from travel agencies, business and non-government organizations.

Among the DCITC task force’s functions are coordination of planning, management and integration of the tourism activities in Danao and Camotes Island;

recommending of measures for the improvement of access to the area to domestic and foreign tourists; ensuring convenience, comfort and satisfaction of tourists;

and recommending tourism-related packages and options for tourists.

A budget of P1 million will be provided for the task force for the development of tourism in the five LGUs.

“I think, with the system alone, it would really boost the tourism industry more in Camotes,” Meca told reporters.