Albay to host Asean meet on climate, tourism

SALCEDA

LEGAZPI CITY—Groundworks are being firmed up for the Association of Southeast Asian Nation (Asean) Conference Workshop on Climate Change and Tourism to be hosted by Albay province on Sept. 11 and 12, an official of the Department of Tourism (DOT) in Bicol confirmed on Friday.

Maria Ong Ravanilla, DOT regional director, said in an interview that the first Asean event to be hosted by Albay expects to draw up an action plan to address new issues on climate change affecting Asian nations and come up with strategies to boost tourism among the Asean members.

Action plans

She said at the end of the conference participants would have to develop their respective disaster action plans to make their country a disaster-resilient place to live in.

Ravanilla said DOT-Bicol, with Albay Gov. Joey Salceda,  has initiated a series of meetings to prepare activities that would make the participants enjoy their two-day stay in the province.

Success stories

She said the conference would showcase success stories on how Albay has coped with natural disaster challenges such as volcanic eruptions, typhoons, flooding and landslides.

“The conference will also show how these challenges were met and how these could be transformed into opportunities to boost the region’s tourism,”  she added.

Model province

Ravanilla said Albay became host of the Asean conference because the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) recognized the province as  a model in terms of disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation (DRR-CCA).

The UNDP has also acknowledged Salceda as a “DRR-CCA global champion.”

Expected to attend the two-day Asean conference are tourism ministers from the 10-member Asean countries that include Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Burma (Myanmar), Singapore, Laos, Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia and the Philippines.