DTI, DOT ink pact for marketing of OTOP products in Central Visayas

THE Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) 7, in partnership with the Department of Tourism (DOT) 7, will hold a familiarization tour of towns taking part in the One Town, One Product (Otop) project.

The tour will enable DTI 7 and DOT 7 to effectively market Otop products and services among foreign and domestic tourists.

DTI 7 presented some Otop products in Cebu and other parts of Central Visayas to a group of local tour guides and tour operators in a briefing last Monday.

The joint venture of DTI 7 and DOT 7 is the first in the region and the second nationwide, said DTI 7 Director Asteria Caberte.

Caberte said the familiarization tour of successful Otop areas by tour guides and operators “will help provide a new dimension in the region’s tourism packages,” especially since Central Visayas is described as the tourism gateway of the Philippines.

“They can incorporate Otop stories into the town’s history and narrate it to tourists,” she said in an interview. She pointed out that since tour guides are likened to “walking billboards,” they would be the right people to tap in the promotion of Otop products. (wowphilippines)