PRESS RELEASE

Philippine Department of Tourism

06 October 2015

PH leads the East Asia and the Pacific

towards a new era of tourism development

At the 21st United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) General Assembly in Medellín, Colombia on 12-18 September 2015, the six Regional Commissions elected new chairs and vice-chairs for the period 2015-2017.

The Department of Tourism (DOT) is pleased to announce that the Philippines was unanimously elected as Chairperson of the Regional Commission for East Asia and the Pacific (CAP) with Cambodia and Japan as vice chairpersons. The Philippines will also sit as member of the Committee on Statistics and Tourism Satellite Account (TSA) owing to its efforts of institutionalizing the implementation of the TSA in the Philippines, the first in the ASEAN region which is in consonance with the UN system of satellite accounting.

Mr. Taleb Rifai, UNWTO Secretary-General lauded the Philippines for taking the Chairmanship that will greatly contribute to the global travel and tourism agenda of increasing competitiveness and promoting sustainable development in the region.  Asia and the Pacific region is now the fastest global tourism destination with 263 million international arrivals in 2014 with a growth rate of 5.3%.

The five other commissions and their respective chairs (C) and vice-chairs (VCs) are:  Africa – Zimbabwe (C) and Cameroon and Cote d’Ivoire (VCs); the Americas - Haiti (C) and Paraguay and Chile (VCs); Europe - Switzerland (C) and Montenegro and Lithuania; South Asia - India (C) and Bangladesh and Afghanistan (VCs); and the Middle East - Lebanon (C) and Egypt and Jemen (VCs).

“We are very happy about the strong confidence of countries in the Asia Pacific for the Philippines to lead the region.  It is an affirmation of the Philippines’ leadership to pursue reforms and address key issues to enhance travel and tourism development in the region, to include, among others, domestic tourism, air connectivity, and travel facilitation,” DOT Secretary Ramon R. Jimenez, Jr. said.

CONTACT:           EVELYN A. MACAYAYONG

                               Media and Communications Service

                               459-5200, loc. 509, 510

                               eamacayayong@tourism.gov.ph; eamacayayong@yahoo.com.ph

                            (Photo courtesy of DOT)

DOT Assistant Secretary Rolando Cañizal and Mr. Xu Jing, UNWTO Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific