In the new normal, the Department of Tourism (DOT) is geared towards transitioning to digital for the industry’s survival.
According to Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat in a recent webinar titled, “Digital as the New Normal” organized by the Department of Tourism (DOT), developing new skills is an integral part in moving forward.
“As we move into the next phase of community quarantine, we also want you to bring new skills to the table. As many of us who are stuck at home during the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ), we have to find our ways to get our food, groceries, and other necessities to be delivered to us,” she said.
She noted how online shopping played a vital role in these times, specially for e-commerce, digital marketing, payment, and delivery apps.
Buy harvest online
Moreover, Puyat stressed how the digital landscape paved the way for helping Benguet farmers sell their goods online.
“We have Philippine Harvest online, so we link our farmers to all the people here in the National Capital Region (NCR). We are now working with Grab para hindi lang yung sa online ang payment, pati yung delivery,” the tourism chief said.
DOT has launched the online platform for the Philippine Harvest trade fair in partnership with retail group Stores Specialists Inc. (SSI). This aims to continue promoting and giving access to fresh produce and local food products from Micro, Small and Medium-Scale Enterprises (MSME) and farmers amid the pandemic.
Interested Filipino consumers may support this endeavor through the official Facebook page at facebook.com/PhilippineHarvest.
Online learning as the new normal
Meanwhile, Puyat encourages the tourism department to make use of technology on Online Learning Series (OLS) especially to adapt to the “less or no contact” trend in doing business.
“We are in tourism so we also have to look for new ways and think out of the box,” she said.
DOT will be assisting more tourism enterprises nationwide to digitize their operations, communications, and selling, especially for small and medium businesses.
“If there is one thing this pandemic has taught us, it’s that for our industry to survive, we must make the transition to digital and online to make sure that small businesses don’t get left behind. Ang kagandahan nito, we are in touch with so many people right now in the tourism industry,” she said.
