No less than Department of Tourism (DOT) Secretary Christina G. Frasco will deliver the keynote address of Manila Bulletin’s 1st Sustainability Forum, which will be held online on Nov. 23-24, 2022. The theme of the two-day event is “Beyond Green,” featuring a lineup of prominent speakers who are top executives, business leaders, and sustainability advocates.
Frasco will talk on “A Path Toward Sustainability: Sustainable Tourism in the Next 6 Years,” a timely and relevant issue as she lays out the Marcos administration’s tourism thrust, which is anchored on sustainability and responsible tourism.
Frasco brings with her a wealth of experience and hands-on leadership. She is the right person in the right job as she helps navigate the tourism revival after a devastating two-year pandemic. She also needs to balance tourism growth and sustainability, ensuring that even with the influx of tourists, our natural resources are still protected, maintained, and nurtured.
Prior to being tourism secretary, Frasco was a multi-awarded mayor of the municipality of Liloan in Cebu. Her transformational leadership fostered Liloan’s development toward sustainability, livability, and innovation with aggressive infrastructure development, education support, economic recovery, and social protection programs. These innovations allowed Liloan to be awarded as “Top Model Municipality” and “Most Resilient Municipality” in the Philippines.
Throughout the challenges of the pandemic and a super typhoon that devastated Central Visayas, she led Liloan’s recovery and resurgence toward having the highest growth rate in Cebu.
A lawyer by profession, she practiced international arbitration and commercial litigation and was a professor of law prior to joining public service in 2016.
After winning a fresh mandate for her third and final term as mayor in the last elections, President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. handpicked her to lead the DOT, a challenge she wholeheartedly accepted as she committed to support the President’s vision for tourism to become one of the country’s major economic pillars and an effective driver of the Philippines’ post-pandemic national recovery.
The Manila Bulletin’s 1st Sustainability Forum is a perfect venue for Frasco to let everyone know the DOT’s thrusts, which includes improving infrastructure and accessibility; pushing for comprehensive digitalization; enhancing tourist experience; equalizing tourism product development and promotion to increase livelihood and economic opportunities; diversifying tourism products and widening tourism circuits; maximizing domestic tourism while enhancing international tourism; and strengthening tourism governance through close coordination with LGUs and stakeholders.
She is also tasked to unveil a “Filipino” brand that aims to propel the country to exceed its current global standing and tourist arrival numbers, transforming it to a tourism powerhouse in Asia.
The 1st Sustainability Forum is co-presented by Coca-Cola, Unilever, and Wilcon. It is supported by City of Dreams Manila, Arthaland, BPI, Filinvest, Grohe, ICTSI, Megaworld, SM Investments, Watsons, and Airspeed. SGV is the technical adviser.
To join the 1st Sustainability Forum, click on this link: https://www.facebook.com/events/521103419861200?ref=newsfeed.