Tourism Regional Director Edwin Trompeta said he is pushing for a tourism action plan that will position Western Visayas as a destination to reckon with.

He said that this should be done in such a way that provinces complement, not compete with each other in showcasing their respective tourism destinations.

Trompeta was in Bacolod City Monday for the launching of the Negros Island Tourism Inc., the body tasked to market and promote the province, both for the leisure and convention markets, and for the opening of the 1st Bacolod Travel Xchange last week.

We should be able to position Western Visayas as a destination to reckon with to bring business to the region, he said.

The Department of Tourism 6 has been pushing for the promotion of other tourist attractions in the region, aside from the world-famous Boracay Island, which is Western Visayas' biggest crowd drawer.

Trompeta said the regional tourism stakeholders are expected to concretize their targets in a convention that will be held soon.

The DOT, he said, is now doubling its efforts to achieve its targets, particularly the five million tourists for the next five years, after hitting an unprecedented number of tourist arrivals in 2005.

The Philippines last year recorded 2.6 million in tourist arrivals or an increase of 13 percent from 2004 data.

We have to take advantage of this opportunity and also allow the public to actively participate in the continued growth of the tourism industry, he added.*NLG

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