MAKING AN IMPACT PROMOTING INVESTMENT IN NORTHERN PANAY (Philippines) Panay Island is a heart-shaped island located in the Western Visayas region and consists of the provinces of Aklan, Antique, Capiz, and Iloilo. Two of the provinces within the island, Aklan and Antique, form the LGSP-LED Sustainable Tourism Development for Northern Panay Project. Boracay is the dominant destination, not just in Northern Panay, but also in Western Visayas. It has a long stretch of white sand beaches, well-developed activities, and large supply of tourism facilities and services. Also in Northern Panay is Mararison Island in Culas. It is a typical hospitable Filipino fishing village, great for day trips, beach picnics, and swimming activities. Tibiao is another great destination, offering a range of nature, eco-adventure, and health and wellness activities, such as Tibiao Eco-adventure Park, zip line, kawa bath, Bugtong Falls, and white river rafting. But, while there are a variety of attraction sites in Northern Panay, most would still be considered as in the early development phases compared to Boracay.
Achieving local economic development through tourism With the support of LGSP-LED, local partners in Northern Panay developed a Tourism Circuit Plan to serve as a framework for a local tourism development and economic development. The Plan identified the tourism sites and assets, as well as several challenges and constraints that were hindering sustainable tourism development in Northern Panay. A key challenge was the need to improve the business climate for tourism investments and create an enabling environment to support local economic development through improved government processes, policies and capacities. Neither the province of Aklan or Antique had a person designated to take responsibility for local economic development. The Local Investment and Incentives Codes (LIIC) also needed updating and the Business Permitting and Licencing System needed to be streamlined and automated in order to make it easier for small and medium sized enterprises to start and grow their businesses. In Antique, it was found that the Provincial Tourism Office and the position of Provincial Tourism Officer were not well established within the government, yet the position and office are very critical in the development of sustainable tourism in the circuit.
MAKING AN IMPACT PROMOTING INVESTMENT IN NORTHERN PANAY
Based on this analysis, the Northern Panay Local Project focused on strengthening the capacity of the municipal and provincial government to develop and adopt LED-enabling policies, regulatory reforms, and programs that would encourage increased in investments and business activity.
Building government capacity for LED LGSP-LED supported the Province of Aklan, the municipalities of Kalibo, Nabas, Ibajay and Buruanga, and all member LGUs of Northern Antique to designate their Local Economic and Investment Promotion Officers (LEIPOs).
The LEIPO is a new position within local government. They have been given the mandate to spearhead and manage economic development activities at the local level. In Antique, the designated Provincial LEIPO (concurrently the Provincial Economic Development Officer) was able to organize a training workshop for all municipal LEIPOs in the Province, with the assistance of the DILG Provincial Office, to identify their priority investment projects. The municipal LEIPOs also prepared investment profiles to provide basic information for investors.
LGSP-LED also sought to build capacity among the Provincial offices with LED-related mandates in order for them to better support and provide technical assistance to their municipal counterparts. The training strengthened the LED and investment promotions offices of Aklan and Antique, and helped to place a greater emphasis on the roles of the Provincial LEIPOs in championing and supporting the investment promotion activities of their municipal counterparts.
After participating in the LGSP-LED training activities and investment fairs, local government staff are now able to plan and implement investment promotion activities on their own initiative. Promising results and optimism for the future The Northern Panay Tourism Circuit surpassed most of the desired outcomes for the project, except for its target tourist arrivals. The project helped draw in investments worth at least PHP 4.7 billion pesos (more than twice the PHP 2-billion target); generate 4,568 new jobs (500% more than the target); and attract 1,770,677 visitors (7% short of the target).
MAKING AN IMPACT PROMOTING INVESTMENT IN NORTHERN PANAY
It must be noted, however, that the growth of Northern Panay has remained largely dependent on Boracay's role as the dominant driver. Overall, the circuit of tourism sites on the Northern Panay mainland may still be considered as part of an emerging destination area. Much of the potential for inclusive growth represented by these sites have yet to be fully achieved. However, significant investments in LED- and tourism-enabling infrastructure from public, private, and PPP-based sources have started to come in. These developments provide reasons to be optimistic about the prospects for tourism growth in mainland Northern Panay over the next 3 years.
SUMMARY Program Name: Sustainable Tourism Development for Northern Panay Location: Western Visayas
Date: 2014-2016
Population: 1.1 million (Alkan and Antique) Area: 182,140 hectares (Alkan) 272,920 hectares (Antique) Key Program Components: • • • • • • • •
Development of Northern Panay Tour Package Establishment/enhancement of Negosyo Centers to support MSMEs and community based enterprises Training on tour guiding and frontline service and training for MSMEs on product enhancement, productivity improvement and market linkage Investment promotion for priority tourism projects Coaching for LEIPOs on investment promotion and business matching Packaging of investment promotions Coaching for local government to develop Business Plans and Local Investment Codes Digitization of Business Permits and Licencing System
Impacts:
About 721 new business registrations in the tourism sector were recorded for Malay and Kalibo (Aklan). Several municipalities from Aklan and Antique updated their its Comprehensive Land Use Plan or are in the process of doing so. 3 out of 6 municipalities in Northern Aklan have also updated their Comprehensive Development Plans (CDP). Aklan and the 6 participating municipalities have Disaster Risk Reduction Management and Climate Change Adaptation action plans in place. Private investments for tourism in Aklan are estimated at PHP 4.7 billion, primarily for a 36megawatt wind energy facility in Nabas and hotels established in Kalibo. 4,568 new jobs were generated (500% more than the target). Since the project inception, public investments for tourism in Aklan were estimated at PHP 719.7 million, primarily for ongoing construction to expand and upgrade the airport.