HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRIPEVINE: OUR NEW ABNORMAL “A Decade of Sustainable Tourism” was the overarching theme as the Asian Institute of Management – Andrew L. Tan Center for Tourism held an event to celebrate its 10th year, and to launch the first-ever Philippine Tourism Excellence Awards. Thanks to an invitation from Megaworld’s Harold Geronimo, who had smartly arranged for Issa Litton to host the event and thus, give me no avenue of “escape,” I was witness to this enlightening event held at the Sheraton Manila Hotel. Enlightening because, to be perfectly frank, it was a revelation to me to discover that sustainable tourism had been championed for a decade now by the center. This meant that promoting sustainability was already a tenet of the center before the UN adapted their 17 Sustainable Development Goals in 2015, and definitely predates the advent of sustainability as a buzzword in the Philippines – which has been going on for some two to three years now. And yes, the concept did exist even back then in 2012, but the proverbial bandwagon effect that we now see here in our country only really happened recently. Today, it seems we can’t escape the term “sustainable” in media platforms, whether traditional or social. Every Tom, Dick, Harry and his brother and sister are pushing “sustainable;” and yet, the fact remains that most everyone else is in possession of a somewhat limited appreciation of what the term, and ESG, stand for in the UN SDP context. DR. ANDREW L. TAN at the rostrum, during the event celebrating a decade of the AIM-ALT Center for Tourism. Dr. Andrew Tan, AIM-ALT Center for Tourism Chairman Jesli Lapus, and AIM President Jikyeong Kang, had their turns on the rostrum, and they spoke of how sustainability is so intertwined with the teaching principles of the center. And it was nice to note how, when they disclosed the three categories of the 1st Philippine Tourism Excellence Awards, the categories mirrored the ESG elements of environment, social, and governance. This holistic approach to turning sustainability into a multi-faceted approach to improving quality of life and planet was not lost on me, and it did highlight how seriously the center wanted their awards to duly recognize this approach. DR. ANDREW L. TAN, Sec. Jesli Lapus, AIM-ALT Center for Tourism chairman, and Dr. Jikyeong Kang, CEO, president, Dean and MVP professor for marketing, Asian Institute of Management at the 1st Philippine Tourism Excellence Awards. Too often, I’ve spoken to people and noticed how their understanding of sustainability is centered on the environment alone. And sure it’s an important pillar of sustainability, but it is only one of three essential pillars. While the environment agenda will address climate control and global warming, the social and governance agendas speak of diversity, inclusiveness, eradicating discrimination and poverty, and of corporate responsibility to its stakeholders, employees, the public, and the community at large. It’s only by marrying the E, S, & G do we follow a path to a real sustainable future. DOT SEC. FRASCO speaking from Bojo River, Aloguinsan, Cebu in her wonderful MB Sustainability Forum keynote address. The MB Sustainability Forum we mounted just last Wednesday and Thursday was our sincere effort to bring home to the public a better appreciation of this three-pillar foundation of sustainability. Our keynote speaker for the second day was Department of Tourism Secretary Christina G. Frasco, and if you want to witness a wonderful talk, with strong visual elements, of how this ESG approach to sustainability can come “alive” in local tourism, head to her talk on the MB YouTube channel or on our MB Facebook page. Recorded in one of Cebu’s sustainable tourism destinations, it’s a real eye-opener on how development, livelihood, and an ESG approach to sustainability, can all go hand-in-hand. DOT SECRETARY CHRISTINA G. FRASCO, whose talk during the recently held MB Sustainability Forum is a must-watch. The talk opens at the Bojo River Cruise in Aloguinsan, and tracing the 12-year journey of how the cruise was organized and expanded, Aloguinsan becomes a petri-dish and template of how eco-tourism can be a successful pathway for the right-minded and properly governed municipalities in the country. As Sec. Frasco stresses time and again throughout the talk, it’s about development and tourism opening opportunities for the local community without harming the natural resources of the locality, and how the tourism business can give back in a myriad of ways. And of course, while it may be easy in hindsight to see the path taken, I can only imagine the birth pains and frustrations, the false starts; and how it’s commitment and determination that pave the way. If in waste management, the three R’s mantra is reduce, reuse, and recycle; how we make use of our natural resources has its own three R’s mantra of rehabilitate, restore, and regenerate. In the course of explaining the sustainable tourism journey taken by Aloguinsan, we see how both mantras are utilized, and are turned into guiding principles for what form tourism development will take, if we aim to do it responsibly. It’s the hope of Sec. Frasco to make the micro- now also work for the macro-, as she shepherds Philippine tourism to be an important facet of our national recovery.