Metro Iloilo-Guimaras Tourism Information Center ( MIGTIC )

1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1. Background of the Package of Assistance
1.1.1 Overview of the MIG-01 Project

In view of its capacity to stimulate economic growth quickly and to contribute to poverty reduction, tourism has been identified as a priority sector for development at the national and regional levels. However, while the tourism sector in the Western Visayas has been growing robustly, this has not been the case for the Metro Iloilo-Guimaras (MIG) region. The MIG region’s share of total Western Visayan tourism has been declining in recent years.

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The Metro Iloilo-Guimaras Economic Development Council (MIGEDC) realized that tourism has the capacity to make significant contributions towards overall economic development and poverty reduction in Metro Iloilo-Guimaras. However, for this to happen, the following key constraints need to be addressed:

(i) insufficient quantity and quality of transportation linkages between the MIG region and key markets,
(ii) unsustainable practices related to the exploitation and development of tourism assets and resources,
(iii) uncompetitive quality and pricing of local tourist facilities and services, particularly accommodation,
(iv) need to increase the volume, length of stay, average daily expenditure of tourists;
(v) highly seasonal pattern of tourism,
(vi) ineffective monitoring of tourism sector performance, impacts and management of its sustainability,
(vii) insufficient number and quality of qualified tourism staff,
(viii) need to strengthen existing institutional structures and organizations for tourism,
(ix) unfavorable publicity for Guimaras tourism as a result of the August 2006 Petron oil spill, and
(x) absence of a strategic framework, action plan, and physical development plan to coordinate the development of the sector.

Consequently, MIGEDC received a package of assistance (PoA), under Phase 1 of the Philippines-Australia Local Governance Development Program (LGDP) to prepare an Integrated Tourism Strategy and Action Plan for the Metro Iloilo-Guimaras region.

The main Goal of the PoA is:
To develop the tourism sector in the MIG region to deliver local economic benefits to the participating LGUs.
In this context, the main Outcome of the project is expected to be:

Greater cooperation among local tourism sector stakeholders through better integration of activities and provision of supporting infrastructure, skills and expertise, and the development of local tourism products and services to meet the needs of potential tourist markets.

1.1.2 Overview of the TIC Component of the POA

The POA appropriated PHP2 million for the TIC component of the project which was to be used for providing information to visitors before arrival to the MIG; upon arrival; and during their stay in the region.

1.2 Objectives of the Information Center Component

The Terms of Reference provided by LGDP provided that “the design, siting, service specifications and implementation of Tourism Information Centers (virtual, web-based and physical presence) will need to be evaluated and established to demonstrate outcomes from the study. Tourist information centers will need to be strategically located. These will be managed by MIGEDC or its member local government through trained/competent tourism service providers. The specific activities cover:

· Criteria preparation and site selection
· Preparation of program of work
· Implementation (procurement of materials, refurbishment, etc.)
· Start of operations (collaterals, promotional materials, information systems)

In the planning processes, the following activities are excluded:
· Planning and construction of tourism infrastructure support (roads, ports, etc.)
· Preparing the environmental impact studies and requirements
· Tools such as software development for the online tourist information system.”

2.0 PREPARATION AND PLANNING

2.1 Planning and Consultative Process for the TIC

During the July 5 Stakeholders’ Consultation, a position paper prepared by the consultants, Asia Pacific Projects, Inc., (APPI) was discussed with the stakeholders describing the different kinds of TICs that they could choose from and the options open to them. A copy of the position paper is attached as Appendix 1.

The stakeholders, composed of representatives from the Local Government Units (LGUs) of the MIG; the tourism private sector (Iloilo Convention and Visitors Bureau; Iloilo Hotel, Restaurant, and Resort Association, the Association of Iloilo Travel and Tour Operators; and the Guimaras Resort Association); the Dept. of Tourism; the Provincial Tourism Officer; Iloilo Business Club; and the academe broke up into groups to deliberate on the options.

At the conclusion of the group sessions, the stakeholders chose an electronic information kiosk to be located at the new Iloilo airport; the city of Iloilo; and in Jordan, Guimaras. It was further decided that a MIG tourism website be designed and that a tourism map and a MIG travel guide be prepared and printed as part of the TIC. APPI was requested by the stakeholders to prepare a budget for the aforementioned components for presentation during the next stakeholders’ consultation.

Before the July 31st consultation, Mayor Isabelo Maquino, Chairperson of the MIGEDC Committee on Tourism, wrote a letter dated July 23, 2007 addressed to Mr. Francis Gentoral, LGDP Partnership Advisor, stating that the Tourism Officers of the LGUs “felt the need for them to really put forward the interest of their respective LGUs, which in their point of view will never enjoy the benefits of the TIC project since it was limited only to three (3) identified areas. Hence, they are proposing that the LGUs of Leganes, Oton, Pavia, San Miguel and Santa Barbara will be provided with a virtual TIC that will include a Laptop/Notebook Computer with printer and a telefax machine, while the three previously identified TICS will still be pushed through.”

Mayor Maquino’s letter was included in the July 31 agenda for discussion.

During the July 31st stakeholders’ consultation, APPI’s website designer, Mr. Arthom Barlis of Biz Essensure IT Consulting and Designs, presented the concept papers for the electronic information kiosk and the website. APPI chose Biz Essensure amongst three website design proponents because of Mr. Barlis’ experience in designing tourism websites for the Dept. of Tourism and other provinces and because Biz Essensure’s quote was the lowest among the three. Mr. Barlis’ undergraduate degree in Tourism from the U.P. Asian Institute of Tourism also gave him the added edge over the other proponents. The concept paper for the electronic kiosk covered kiosk functionality; elements of the kiosk (hardware and software); the risks involved; and maintenance and content management. The concept paper for the website covered the mission and the objectives of the website; the audiences; the information architecture; user management; design; content formats; technology requirements and web administration environment. A work plan and costs accompanied the concept paper. A copy of the power point presentations made by Mr. Barlis is attached as Appendix 2.

It was agreed that the information contained in the website would be the same information that would be in the electronic information kiosk.

The stakeholders decided that the website address would be: www.metroiloiloguimaras.com.

Mr. Barlis stressed the need to engage the services of two persons: a website administrator or webmaster whose responsibility would be to maintain and update the content of the website and ensure the continuous operation of the website. The other person would be a kiosk caretaker who would be a technical person with background on computer hardware and internet. The kiosk caretaker would ensure that the kiosks are properly working and that internet access would be continuous. This person would be qualified to do trouble-shooting in case of hardware problems. Both persons would be based in Iloilo City.

APPI presented the budget for the total TIC package, including the collateral materials. This amounted to PHP2,308,608.00. Please refer to Appendix 3. Since this amount exceeds the PHP2 million budget appropriated by the project, the following solutions were discussed and agreed upon by the stakeholders present:

* Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Trenas, Chairman of MIGEDC, suggested that each of the five (5) LGUs cited in Mayor Maquino’s letter dated July 23, 2007 be provided a desk top computer (instead of a lap top) which he said Iloilo City buys from DBM at PHP16,000.00 per computer.
* DOT Regional Director Edwin Trompeta offered to foot the bill for the printing of a MIG Destination Guide, in which case, only a travel map would be prepared and printed as part of the project.

2.2 Work Plan and Budgets

Given the aforecited agreements, the budget was revised. The revised, agreed budget is shown as Appendix 4.

Mr. Barlis then discussed the work plan and timetable for the submission of the data needed for the website. He also showed the stakeholders the data gathering forms which they had to use in submitting the data needed for the website. The stakeholders agreed to the timetable and promised to submit the data to be able to meet the deadline for launching the website.

The work plan and timetable are attached as Appendix 5.

3.0 INPUTS AND ACTIVITIES

3.1 Tourism Information Center
3.1.1. Electronic Kiosk

APPI personally inspected the office of the manufacturers of the kiosk enclosure on August 6, 2007 and clarified the components that would go into each kiosk. The kiosk enclosure that was ordered is shown as Appendix 6. These were delivered to Iloilo and Guimaras on October 26. However, due to difficulties in getting permits from the Air Transportation Office (ATO), the government agency in-charge of operating the Iloilo Airport, the kiosk that was meant for the airport was delivered to the DOT Region 6 office for temporary use until arrangements for the airport site would have been finalized. The Visitors Lounge operated by the Iloilo Convention and Visitors Bureau in the arrival area of the terminal building was deemed the suitable venue for the kiosk.

On November 20 and 21, Mr. Arthom Barlis and a computer technician visited all three venues, namely Jordan, Guimaras, DOT Region 6 Office, and Robinson’s Mall in Iloilo City to configure the system so that it could be operated. Only the first two were configured because the kiosk at the Robinsons Mall did not have a DSL internet ready connection.

The electronic information kiosks are configured to operate on a 24 hour, 7 days a week basis (24/7).

3.1.2 Travel Map

The mock-up of the map was passed around to the stakeholders for comment on November 7, 2007.After two weeks, this was returned to APPI with the stakeholders’ corrections and suggestions for improvement. The most important comment was that the stylized map of Iloilo City showing the streets as a grid was going to be a misleading map for visitors. Dir. Trompeta of the DOT suggested that the map being used by the DOT in its collateral materials be adopted for consistency.

As of this writing, i.e., December 1, 2007, the corrections are still being inputted by the graphic design company, Emphasis.

3.1.3 Desk Top Computers for the LGUs

Following Mayor Jerry Trena’s advice that desk top computers could be purchased for PHP16,00 per unit, APPI requested Iloilo suppliers for quotations. Two quotations, based on the same specifications, were submitted to APPI on September 25 and October 16. These were submitted to the MIGEDC Executive Director and the MIGEDC Committee on Tourism. Copies of the quotation are attached as Appendix 7.. APPI was advised that a third quotation would be sought by the Committee on Tourism for comparison purposes. When APPI followed this up with members of the Tourism Committee on November 7, APPI was informed that the Tourism Officers preferred laptops over the desk top units and would ask the Mayors if the latter could offer a counterpart fund to the PHP16,000 per unit which was budgeted by the project.

As of this writing, December 1, 2007, APPI has not been advised about the decision of the Tourism Committee.

3.2 Metro Iloilo-Guimaras Tourism Website
3.2.1 Design and Planning

Please refer to Section 2.1

3.2.2 Data Collection

The data gathering forms given to the stakeholders are attached as Appendix 8.

3.2.3 Pre-Launch Activities

The Alpha (for functionality) and Beta (for content) testing of the website took place on November 21 in Iloilo City with a majority of the stakeholders present. Mr. Arthom Barlis presided, with consultants from APPI in attendance. Comments from the stakeholders were solicited and in as far as changes could be made, Mr. Barlis promised to address these comments. However, he stressed that the website was only as good as the data and the photos with captions provided by the stakeholders and in most instances, these were not provided. The stakeholders were given up to November 30, 2007 to submit their data and more photographs, after which it was agreed that updates to the site would be made by the Iloilo website administrator nominated by Iloilo City in the person of Mr. Mark Yap.

Mr. Barlis conducted a half-day training program for Mr. Yap and his assistant, Mr. Rohan Castro on November 22. An observer from the LGDP office as present as well. The training module is attached as Appendix 9.

Negotiations between MIGEDC/ICVB and the Air Transportation Office on locating the electronic information kiosk at the ICVB lounge at the airport should be concluded at the soonest possible time and ICVB should decide on footing the bill for the DSL broadband connection.

3.2.4 Launching of the Website

The website and the online electronic information kiosk will be launched on December 14, 2007 in conjunction with the MIG Leaders Summit to be convened by Mayor Jerry Trenas.

Conclusions

4.2 Lessons Learned
4.2.1 Tourism Information Center and Tourism Website

Data was very difficult to get from the stakeholders. They were either too busy; did not have the photographs and the information; nor the staff who knew how to fill up the data gathering forms as instructed. For instance, their photos had no captions and these were pasted in word format, instead of jpg format, making it difficult for the website designer to make use of these. Since the project was suffering a delay of three weeks, APPI had to send its IT specialist, Mr. Eleazar Ella to Iloilo for two weeks, from August 26-September 9, 2007 to go around the LGUs to help the Tourism Officers fill up the data gathering forms, take photographs, produce the CDs containing their data.

Record keeping, data gathering and updating, ensuring consistency and accuracy of data provided is a capability which should be strengthened amongst the LGUs. It should be emphasized to them that the Iloilo website administrator, Mr. Yap, has to be provided with accurate and timely data with good photos if the MIG tourism website is to be maintained at an international standard.

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