The President’s Men and Women: DOT chief vows to provide tourism-driven jobs

MANILA, Philippines – No stranger to the tourism industry, Secretary Alberto Lim vows to provide more tourism-driven jobs in the countryside to contribute to the government’s efforts to eradicate poverty.

The new Department of Tourism chief said he accepted President Aquino’s offer to head the DOT to help the new administration accomplish its promise of reducing corruption and poverty.

“At MBC (Makati Business Club), I was an advocate versus corruption so my experience can help. Tourism is an industry that creates jobs especially in the countryside where many of the poor reside,” Lim told The STAR.

Lim was a former executive director of the MBC, an association of top business executives.

“Aside from direct jobs, tourism’s multiplier effects create much bigger impact on the economy,” he said.

Lim, fondly called “Bertie” by friends and colleagues, said the DOT under his leadership would work on the new branding of the Philippines as a country of warm and genial people.

He also cited the need to double efforts to highlight cultural tourism just as much as Philippine beaches are promoted.

“Similarly, we have to hone professional guides,” Lim said.

“When I visited Vietnam recently, a very well-trained guide kept me engaged for two hours while he was explaining the details of a bell. You see, if we have better products and good service, people will come,” the 60-year-old Lim said.

He also plans to double the country’s tourism revenues in six years by attracting high-paying tourists instead of following the mass-market route taken by some of its Southeast Asian neighbors.

“Unbridled tourism is also bad because the environment suffers. So we are very careful about the type of tourism we want. The people who come for culture, history and nature, maybe we can receive them,” he said.

In its 2009 Industry Report, the DOT said total tourist traffic in the country’s top 14 destinations in 2009 reached 8.9 million or 14 percent higher than in 2008.

Last year, the DOT has endorsed 28 new tourism projects worth P36.3 billion with estimated employment capacity of 15,567 once operational, the report said.

Lim said he would streamline the agency’s operations by cost cutting and removing special teams in charge of growing markets.

The DOT chief said much of the agency’s budget would be spent on product development instead of marketing and promotion.

“We need to develop first-rate products and come up with impeccable services to draw more tourists. We have to be more visible by generating very good projects and we should deliver what we promised,” Lim said.       He said instead of sending special teams, tourism attachés could promote tourism in the country.

“There are better ways of doing the selling, no need to send teams,” Lim said. “Why send people from Manila when there are already people who are doing that?”

Lim is not new to the tourism industry.

He founded the Palawan Tourism Council, which is responsible for Palawan’s rise as a veritable tourist destination.

He was the former president of Ten Knots Development Corp., owners and managers of El Nido resorts, before he became executive director of the MBC in 2006.

Lim also served as board member of the Civil Aeronautics Board. He co-founded the Freedom to Fly Coalition, which advocated an open-skies policy as a strategy to promote economic development.

Lim was born on Aug. 16, 1949 in Manila. His parents are Luis Hidalgo Lim and Estefania Julian Aldaba.

His father, an engineer, died in a plane accident on March 1, 1962 in Lianga Bay, Surigao del Sur. His mother, a psychologist, died of natural causes on March 7, 2006.

He is married to Carla Campos Abreu, a housewife. They have three children namely Lorenzo, 34; Laszlo, 31 and Liana, 23.

He is the younger brother of veteran broadcast journalist Cheche Lazaro (Cecilia Lim Lazaro).

Lim said he enjoys reading and playing the guitar. He is also an avid tennis player.

Lim has a bachelor’s degree in economics from the Ateneo de Manila University. He has also a master’s degree in business administration from the Harvard Business School and another master’s degree in public administration from the Kennedy School of Government. –Helen Flores (The Philippine Star)