The Creative Tourism Network® is very proud to have collaborated in the organization of the 1st Philippine Creative Tourism Congress, held at the Art District in Bacolod, last December 6th-9th.
This high-level event, organized by the Department of Tourism Office of Product and Market Development (DOT-OPMD) with support from the DOT Region VI office aimed at shaping a new perspective of tourism in the Philippines.
Creative Tourism hailed as the catalyst for a new era in travel, is an innovative approach that involves both tourists and local communities in crafting unique and immersive travel experiences – a concept centered on co-creation.
The PCTC is a collaborative effort between the DOT and the Creative Tourism Network (CTN), whose mission is to showcase destinations that leverage creative tourism as a distinct element to entice the new generation of travelers and bolster the destination’s value chain.
Indeed, the Creative Tourism Network® (CTN) has been consulted to redefine the landscape of travel and tourism in the country. That’s why the Congress was the convergence point of a project that started months ago, with training conducted by the Creative Tourism Academy of the CTN, aimed to co-create Creative Experiences with all the Philippine stakeholders, from a wide array of sectors: tourism, hospitality, crafts, CCIs, agriculture, etc.
The director of the Creative Tourism Network®, Caroline Couret, highlighted the “Philippines’ huge potential to be a leading destination in creative tourism. The uniqueness and diversity of its intangible heritage, know-how, and celebrations, as well as its high level of expertise and engineering, both in tourism and creative industries, will be now boosted by new national laws to support the whole sector!”.
Within the session, the Creative Tourism Network® labeled three Philippine cities as CreativeFriendlyDestinations, namely Cebu, Baguio, and Iloilo, thus reinforcing the link with the UNESCO Creative Cities Network.
Tourism Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco, honored as the keynote speaker on December 6, expressed her enthusiasm about the congress saying, “𝘛𝘰𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳, 𝘸𝘦 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘢 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘦𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘧𝘢𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘤 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘶𝘱 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘍𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘰 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘺. 𝘍𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘱𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘧𝘶𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳. 𝘕𝘰𝘸, 𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯.”
“𝘈𝘴 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘶𝘭𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴, 𝘢 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘱𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴, 𝘸𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘵𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘦, 𝘤𝘰-𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘵𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘮 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘱𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴,“ the tourism chief added.
Envisioned as a convergence of tourism luminaries, creative industry professionals, policymakers, and stakeholders, the PCTC endeavors to unearth the untapped possibilities of creative tourism. It seeks to facilitate knowledge exchange, share best practices, and lay the groundwork for its sustainable advancement throughout the Philippines.
“𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘗𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘱𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘊𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘛𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘮 𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘗𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘍𝘦𝘳𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘉𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘣𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘰𝘴 𝘑𝘳.’𝘴 𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘮 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺 𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘢𝘭𝘶𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘳𝘰𝘭𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘍𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘰 𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘦𝘱𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘨𝘦. 𝘈𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘮𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥, 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯, 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘯𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘍𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘰 𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘲𝘶𝘦, 𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦,” Secretary Frasco said.
The PCTC 2023 represents a cornerstone in the DOT’s commitment to amplifying the cultural richness and creative prowess of the Philippines on the global stage. It marks the initiation of a journey toward sustainable and inclusive tourism, encapsulating the essence of collaboration and innovation.
