More than 43,000 frontline tourism employees nationwide have been successfully trained by the Department of Tourism (DOT) so they can better showcase the Filipino brand of hospitality to tourists. (Department of Tourism) Tourism Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco said a total of 43,813 individuals have been trained under the Filipino Brand of Service Excellence (FBSE) program. The FBSE is an intensive tourist education and training program by the DOT for 100,000 target Filipino frontline tourism employees. “We are happy to report that, through the combined hard work of the DOT Central and Regional Offices, our trainers, and all our partners in the public and private sector who have exerted efforts to reach put to the workers in the entire tourism value chain, we are well on our way in achieving our goal of providing FBSE trainings to 100,000 workers,” Frasco said in a statement. “With this, we are able to banner Filipino hospitality excellence to both our domestic and international tourists,” the DOT chief continued. According to the DOT, the Region 4A (CALABARZON) delivered the highest number of FBSE trainees with 6,376, followed by Region 11 with 5,788, Region 3 with 5,783, Region 4B (MIMAROPA) with 3,920, and the National Capital Region (NCR) with 3,742. The tourism department said the participants include the majority of the industry's workforce including professionals in tourism and members of community-based sustainable tourism organizations (CBTOs); representatives from the academic community, professors and students in tourism and hospitality programs; government employees from national and local government units; tourist-oriented police for community order and protection (TOPCOPs); and those involved in other tourism-related activities. The DOT noted that its training programs are also aimed at creating a benchmark for all tourism frontliners, including persons with disabilities (PWDs), on how to give good services to tourists the Filipino way. Last year, the DOT, through its MIMAROPA Office, held the FBSE for Deaf Tourism Workers in Puerto Princesa City primarily for employees of the Ka Inato Restaurant, which has employed PWDs-deaf individuals-as food servers and kitchen personnel since 2013.