Major tourism players in Negros Occidental have organized the Negros Island Tourism Inc., a non-stock, non-profit corporation, tasked to market and promote the province both for the leisure and convention markets, a press release from the group said.

The NITI Board of Trustees is headed by Ruth Minerva Cruz of the Bacolod Convention Plaza Hotel and The Quiet Place Farm Resort. Other members are: Augusto Sison, president of the Hotel and Restaurant Association of Negros Occidental; Jose Montalbo, president of the Resort Association of Negros Island; Gregorio Flores, president of the National Association of Independent Travel Agencies-Bacolod Chapter; Cristina Gaston, president of the Association of Negros Producers; Sonia Sarrosa of Nature's Village; Nestor Evaristo of Aboy's Restaurant, and Arlette Capistrano of SuperFerry.

The press release also said that NITI is the result of a series of missions sponsored by the Small and Medium Enterprise Development for Sustainable Employment Program, a joint project of The German Technical Cooperation, the Department of Trade and Industry and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority. In a validation workshop in 2004, representatives of different industries in the province chose tourism as having the best potential for employment generation, the press release said.

SMEDSEP then commissioned a comprehensive study that profiled the tourism industry in Negros Occidental and was followed by a study mission headed by Gottfried Hilz-Ward, senior tourism consultant from Frankfurt, Germany, it added.

The Hilz-Ward mission recommended the organization of a tourism body that would market the province, the press release said.

Tourism stakeholders and investors in Negros Occidental are invited to join the group and those who wish for more information may visit its office at Door 4 of the Bacolod Convention Plaza Hotel or call tel. no. 433-8243.*

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