2019 年 10 巻 2 号 p. 132-137
Tourism has scaled into one of the biggest and fastest economic drivers in the world today. With the increasing number of new attractions, the imperative of assessing the competitiveness of tourism destinations is seen to be beneficial in improving its capability to create competitive advantages while ensuring adherence to sustainable development goals. Dubbed as “the best kept secret haven of Eastern Visayas”, Biliran Island Province as a tourism destination was assessed and analyzed using Porter’s Diamond Model of national competitiveness to propose useful strategies headed towards increasing its potentials and tourism competency. A total of 33 tourism stakeholder-respondents have undergone one-on-one interview survey in the said province to describe their perspectives on the importance and performance of various factors and conditions towards increasing its tourism competitiveness. Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA) revealed that the tourism competitiveness of the province is directed to its eminent natural resources, safe and secured environment, and provisions of basic facilities. However, performance improvement of other factors especially marketing and advertising must be addressed promptly. Various concerns and challenges that the province facing include lack of government support in terms of product development and promotion, high taxes and cost of other basic utilities, and environmental challenges as a result of climate change. To address these adversities of, ecotourism-related strategies were recommended in line with the positioning of the province as an “Agri-Garden and Premier Ecotourism destination in Eastern Visayas Region”. These must involve responsible marketing and advertising, human resource development and environmental-friendly infrastructures, and emphasis on intensifying safety and disaster risk reduction and preparedness management.
