Extent Implementation of the Provincial Tourism Development Plan of Guimaras Island

Abstract

This study was conducted to determine the extent of implementation of the existing Provincial Tourism Plan according to its goal in luring tourists to the island of Guimaras. This study was a basis to develop an action plan to operationalize the monitoring system of the program implementation and performance evaluation in accordance with the various programs as embodied in the tourism program of the province.

The descriptive survey research design was used in this study. The respondents of this study were composed of the actual tourists/visitors present in the different resorts at the time of the study and the resort owners. The researcher-made questionnaires were distributed to the respondents. The questionnaires were distributed simultaneously to the actual tourists/visitors present in the different resorts at the time of the study.

The statistical tools used in the study were frequency counts and percentages for descriptive statistics, and for correlational studies, t-test was used. The major findings were: there were 82 major tourist destinations in Guimaras divided into accommodation and non-accommodation, wherein majority are non-accommodation; that for the last two (2) years, from 2004–2005, the trend on the volume of tourists' arrival was increasing, however, it declined in 2006. This could be attributed to the oil spill incident that occurred that time; the trend in volume of income generated from the tourist arrival also followed with that of tourist arrival wherein there was also a decline in the revenue generated in 2006.

In the extent of implementation, respondents indicated that there was a high extent of implementation of the Guimaras Tourism Plan in the areas of tourism policy, strategy, investment, development projects, and partnership. The tourism personnel had a lower perception as to the extent of implementation of the Provincial Tourism Plan, and the respondents did not indicate any concerns or issues regarding the implementation of the Provincial Tourism Plan.