By Bong Pedalino

Southern Leyte (21 October) -- Provincial Governors and City Mayors from various places in the central part of the Philippines met for two days, October 18 and 19 in Cebu City to come up with a joint plan for a comprehensive tourism development strategy.

In a statement obtained by PIA from the office of Gov. Rosette Lerias, it was learned that all the Governors and Mayors have agreed to put up a shared framework and "cooperate towards making Central Philippines the tourism center of the country."

To put all their plans into action, the different local government units also agreed to chip in money contributions in which every member province would give P150,000, every member highly-urbanized city P100,000, and P50,000 per component city, like the city of Maasin.

The money will be intended for the production of tourism promotional materials such as brochures, websites, and others.

"Aware of the particular situations of their respective provinces and cities, the governors and city mayors agreed that a shared framework for the development of tourism in Central Philippines would address the development challenges and opportunities of the area," the joint declaration, which was signed on October 19 at Parklane International Hotel in Cebu City, said.

A structure and mechanism procedure was proposed to coordinate and monitor the implementation of the programs and projects relating to Central Philippines, in line with directives and instructions on this matter from President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, it was learned.

Initially, the identified common action areas needing concentration included the inventory and development of priority tourism destinations, the provision of complementing infrastructures in strategically-located areas along the Central Philippines path, organization of cruise, tour packages, a unified tourism promotion and marketing, and establishment of visitor service centers.