Promoting Philippine Tourism: Tourism Investment and Industry Updates

Event Details

The Tourism and Hospitality (TH) and Trade and Investment (TI) committees of the Chamber is holding a joint committee meeting entitled: Promoting Philippine Tourism: Tourism Investment and Industry Updates on 9 June from 2:00 - 3:30 PM via Zoom.

Focusing on one of the greatest contributors to the Philippine economy, tourism has imprinted its mark of advancing the country beyond economic advantages. The travel and tourism industry features the country's beauty and vibrancy that captivates businesses, assets, and potential investments. The Philippines being an archipelago-- with its 7,641 islands, precipitates a diverse leisure options not only to tourists but to the Filipino people as well. It is evident that the country has a competitive advantage for the tourism experience that it offers to the world, especially that it is known for its hospitable citizens.

One way to further advance the country's tourism is to invest in it. There are numerous tourism investment opportunities in the Philippines such as: hotels, resorts, and other lodging facilities; air, water, and land transport solutions; scenic estates; historico-cultural projects; food and dining facilities; sports and adventure activities; and retail businesses. These advantages position the Philippines in an attractive site for investors.

This webinar is free of charge.

Register here

Speakers

Usec. Benito C. Bengzon, Jr.

Undersecretary at Department of Tourism

Dr. John Paolo Rivera

Adjunct Faculty | Associate Director of Asian Institute of Management

Atty. Karen Mae G. Sarinas-Baydo

Assistant Chief Operating Officer for Tourism Enterprise Zone Management Sector at Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA)

Mr. Benito C. Bengzon, Jr. is a career official at the Philippine Department of Tourism (PDOT). He has over 30 years of experience in tourism planning, policy formulation, investments, and product and market development. He is currently Undersecretary for Tourism Development and the spokesperson of the Department.

He represents the Tourism Secretary in the boards of the Tourism Promotions Board (TPB), the Duty Free Philippines Corporation (DFPC), the Philippine Commission on Sports SCUBA Diving (PCSSD), the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP), the Clark International Airport Corporation (CIAC), and the Mactan-Cebu International Airport Authority (MCIAA).

He also actively represents the PDOT in the ASEAN National Tourism Organization (ASEAN NTO), World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), Asia- Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), and Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA).

He holds a BS Hotel and Restaurant Administration degree from the University of the Philippines. He took up his Masters in Business Administration at the Ateneo Graduate School of Business and Masters in National Security Administration at the National Defense College of the Philippines.

Dr. John Paolo R. Rivera is Adjunct Faculty at the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) and Associate Director of the AIM-Dr. Andrew L. Tan Center for Tourism. Prior to joining AIM, he was Assistant Operations Manager at Veritas Financial Partners – Business Support Services, Inc.; Research Associate and Databank Administrator at the Angelo King Institute for Economic and Business Studies; and Associate Professor at the De La Salle University School of Economics.

He has an extensive research portfolio in the areas of Tourism Development, Poverty, Remittances and Migration, International Trade, and Development Economics. This includes his attendance in a succession of both international and local academic conferences, and authorship of numerous scientific and technical publications. He was involved in commissioned research projects by the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS), Department of Tourism (DOT), ASEAN Secretariat, Asian Development Bank (ADB), Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), Asia-Pacific Research and Training Network on Trade (ARTNeT), East Asian Development Network (EADN), and World Bank (WB).

He was also Consultant at the Philippine Center for Environmental Protection and Sustainable Development Inc. (for the project Transforming Tourism Value Chains in Developing Countries and SIDS to Accelerate More Resource Efficient, Low Carbon Development) and the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (Jakarta, Indonesia) (for the project Explicating Jakarta Framework of Moving AEC Beyond 2015).

He obtained his Doctor of Philosophy in Economics, Master of Science in Economics, and Bachelor of Science in Applied Economics (Magna cum Laude) from De La Salle University (Manila, Philippines). He was Visiting Research Fellow at the Ritsumeikan Center for Asia Pacific Studies of Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University (Beppu, Japan).

Atty. Karen Mae Sarinas-Baydo is the Assistant Chief Operating Officer of the Tourism Enterprise Zone Management Sector (TEZMS) of TIEZA.

Her functions include the general management and administration of the various units under the TEZMS; formulating and implementing policies, guidelines, rules and regulations governing TEZs pursuant to the Tourism Act of 2009 or RA 9593; recommending necessary amendments to existing policies, guidelines, procedures, rules and regulations governing TEZ management/operations; recommending to the COO and the Board of Directors appropriate actions on applicants for TEZ designation/ enterprise registration, master planning for key tourism destinations, and support infrastructure projects in the Flagship TEZs in the Philippines.

At the forefront of her long-term strategic plans is the expansion and accreditation of TEZs and tourism enterprises in the country. The TEZMS thus launched an intensive investment campaign to promote the financial viability of TEZs and the move to streamline the TEZ application process, along with the automation of the issuance of TIEZA permits and licenses.

She is also the Chairperson of the TIEZA Joint Venture Selection Committee (JVSC) and oversees the Joint Venture activities of the Authority covering all aspects of the competitive selection process of its private sector partner for various public-private partnership endeavors, as well as processing unsolicited proposals.

She graduated from the University of the Philippines College of Law in 2007 and passed the Philippine Bar Examinations the following year.

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Promoting Philippine Tourism: Tourism Investment and Industry Updates

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