Cebu tour guides’ DVD ready

A NATIONAL Association of Independent Travel Agencies in the Philippines (Naitas) official has presented to the Department of Tourism the first copy of tour guides’ digital video disc (DVD) of Cebu.

Consul Robert Lim Joseph, Naitas chairman emeritus, said yesterday that they already presented the the DVD copy to Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez Jr., who was pleased with the initiative and encouraged them to make Cebu a pilot for tour guides’ DVD project.

“Having that positive reaction from the Secretary, our next step is to present it to Cebu Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale, who heads the province’s committee on tourism, for her comments and suggestions so that we can move forward and produce the final copy which our tour guides will then be using,” Joseph said.

Former Tourism regional director Patria Aurora Roa heads the committee that is handling the production of the DVDs.

They have commissioned RCTV to produce the material for P160 thousand, Joseph said.

FEATURED LANGUAGES

As planned, the material will feature different languages that will be easy to use by the tour operators.

“It basically follows the standard city tours that we offer to our tourists which will feature not only the sea and sand but also the cultural and heritage destinations that we have here,” Joseph said.

The languages that they have identified for first production includes German, French, Korean, Chinese and Japanese.

The tour guides will also be trained on how to use the DVDs and stitch it seamlessly into their usual tour guiding routines.

“This is a private-sector initiative and we are really encouraging more stakeholders to participate. We must all get involved because this will definitely benefit our tourism industry,” he said.

Joseph said that they plan to meet with Magpale as soon as possible and get her approval for the material as well as approval from the local government units whose destinations are also featured in the DVD.