A tourism industry group here plans to launched a study mission to Bali, Indonesia to boost tourism revenues in the Davao Region and for the country.
The Davao Industry Cluster Capacity Enhancement Project (DICCEP) proposed this to the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA),
Industry group spokesperson Eden David of the Department of Tourism said the planned trip to Bali was basically for “bench marking” to orient the Davao tourism industry group on how a small place like Bali, Indonesia succeeded in making it a global tourism destination, despite the problem of terrorism and the bombings some years ago.
Bali was successful in utilizing its own local native attractions, which were mostly culture-based. It made itself one of the world’s most exotic place to visit, attracting millions of foreign tourists over the years to relish and experience Indonesian culture.
“If Bali can do it, we also have the resources and attractions to do it in Davao,” says Evelyn Perin, spokesperson of the tourism industry cluster.
Perin, who heads the finance and administration of the Department of Trade and Industry here, said the tourism industry cluster group agreed that the best way to know how Bali succeeded in its tourism program, is “to personally visit Bali, see all its attractions” and study how local tourism officials package, sell and market all its tourist spots.
The Davao tourism industry cluster on-going projects now underway include the setting up of a website for the entire region’s tour attraction, funded by JICA-DICCEP.
Also integrated into this website was an “interactive web-based mobile application to answer systematically any queries sent through text messages (SMS)”, according to a proposal submitted by Digilution, a web-design and systems programming outfit based in Davao.
Combining the power of the website with text messaging in promoting Davao region’s tour attractions is expected to increase the number of local visitors and travelers to the provinces’ different tour sites, according to Perin.
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Great idea, Bali is a good place to do the study to develop tourist destinations in Philipines, afterall Indonesia and Philipines have so much in comment such as climate, landmarks and culture. I’m an Indonesian who lives in Jakarta, and I have visited Bali several times. I think one of the most important thing that makes Bali a great tourist destination is the people. Balinese people strongly hold their ancient culture and traditions but yet very tolerant to modern lifestyle and people from outside Bali, they love art – almost every Balinese I know can do their traditional dance !, very friendly to tourists, hard workers – you won’t find beggars in Bali cause everybody work to eat. These people are very much aware that tourism is the main income for their region so they create an atmosphere that would attracts tourists and make them want to stay longer in Bali. I heard Davao is also an amazing place too, hope this study trip would be successful and Davao can be one of the main tourist destination in Asia. Good luck