Rep. Marisol Aragones Sampelo

At this time when the country and many parts of the world are threatened by the spread of a new virus now called COVID-19, tourism once again takes center stage. Foreign travel is highly restricted and, in some cases, even strictly prohibited, so tourism had been negatively affected. Many are saying that tourism is dead, or dying, in the Philippines, because our top inbound tourist-producing countries like Korea and China, among others, have been badly hit by COVID-19. On the contrary, however, I believe that tourism is alive, and kicking. Because tourism involves not just visitors from beyond our shores, but those who live within its borders—this is domestic tourism. Our markets have not dried up—these have merely shifted. From targeting foreigners, we now have to entice our fellow Filipinos to visit our tourist attractions.

This, exactly, is the point of Cong-Tour, a travel vlog produced by the House of Representatives with the support of House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano. The vlog which I host and is co-hosted by my fellow Representatives features the best tourist destinations and foods in each district that we visit. While our primary task is to pass laws being, we believe we should go above and beyond the call of duty to help promote our very kababayan, places, events, and delicacies—as well as our local products. If we all work together, we will overcome all the hurdles that may come our way.

The challenges we now must grapple with do not take away from the significance of this day. Thank you Rotary Club of Manila for recognizing the contributions not just of the hotels, resorts, or even travel agencies. Thank you for including in your list the essential and indispensable contributions of the transport sector, the logistics sector, and even the communications sector and the infrastructure sector, among others. Thank you for establishing tourism as a bigger community of inter-related industries that all add up to become one whole.

Indeed, in the same way that the benefits and advantages of tourism to our economy are both direct and indirect, the institutions behind tourism also involve not just the relevant but also the related.

The world has truly become smaller. And with it, everything has became closer. As a consequence, our relationships must become more close-knit, not only in fighting threats like COVID-19 or any other virus, but also in promoting tourism, especially domestic tourism. Once again, thank you Rotary Club of Manila and your Tourism Awards.