Puerto Princesa City focuses on heritage, culture, and arts as key strategy to boost tourism

On August 6 to 7, 2019, the Puerto Princesa City Tourism Office and USAID’s Strengthening Urban Resilience for Growth with Equity (SURGE) Project held a workshop on strengthening heritage, culture, and arts for tourism promotion. Fifty-eight (58) participants from the Puerto Princesa City and Palawan provincial governments, barangays, and the private sector underwent a process which employs storytelling and meaning-making to look into the significance of various heritage sites. The process became an avenue to review the city’s previous documentation and guidelines developed under the USAID/COMPETE project. Recommendations include the development and completion of the heritage conservation management plan for Plaza Cuartel, cultural mapping, re-organization of the heritage, culture, and arts technical working group, and an inter-agency mechanism to strengthen stakeholder’s participation. Heritage tourism has enormous potentials to contribute to the city’s tourism sector by complementing its growing cruise and MICE (meetings, incentives, conventions and events) sub-sectors. Dr. Eric Zerrudo, a renowned Heritage Development Specialist, emphasized the importance of understanding the value of the city’s heritage resources as the locus of conservation and focus for tourism marketing and investment promotion. The heritage tourism workshop is part of USAID/SURGE’s ongoing technical assistance to support the sustainable growth of Puerto Princesa’s tourism industry. In 2017, SURGE assisted the city government in formulating its Tourism Development Plan.