Products for sale are souvenir items, novelty items, gift items, furniture and furnishings, natural fiber, and fashion accessories such as bags, shawls, headgears, processed food and footwear. Tourist destinations have also been included in the OTOP marketing program.
Cebu was chosen as the venue this year because it is the center of trade and commerce in the Visayas and
The 4th Visayas OTOP fair will focus on selling the products produced by the MSMEs of the three regions under the OTOP Philippines program.
OTOP is one of the priority programs of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to promote entrepreneurship and create jobs in the countryside.
It encourages the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) to produce and market distinct products or services using indigenous raw materials and local skills of every municipality or city.
While DTI is the project’s marketing arm, OTOP is a “collaborative” effort of all sectors in the society, with the local government units (LGUs) as the lead.
Executives of the Local Government Units (LGUs) take the lead in identifying, developing, and promoting a specific product or service which has a competitive advantage.
The DTI through its Provincial Offices assist the LGUs in identifying the specific product and coordinated other forms of assistance from other government agencies such as the Departments of Agriculture (DA), Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Interior and Local Government (DILG), Science and Technology (DOST), Tourism (DOT) and the Technical Education Skills Development Authority (TESDA), among others.
Package of assistance include business counseling, skills and entrepreneurial training, marketing, and introduction of appropriate technologies.
The 1st and 3rd OTOP fair was held in Cebu City, while the 2nd fair was held in Boracay.
It is focused on the product development initiatives of the DTI highlighting the tourism and market potentials of the Supra Region, the Central Philippines , which attracts more than half of the foreign tourists in the country.
For businesses that lack high level of marketing, an intra-regional exhibit like the Visayas Otop (