Lapu-Lapu mulls incentives for island hopping operators

CEBU, Philippines — The Lapu-Lapu City government plans to give incentives to island hopping service providers in a bid to professionalize the industry and promote safety.

Lapu-Lapu City Tourism and Investment office head Ed Mendez noted that there is a growing number of island hopping providers in Lapu-Lapu City that need proper accreditation to ensure the safety of tourists.

If these operators will be properly accredited with the city as well as with the Department of Tourism (DOT) and the Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA), they will be given an incentive by the local government unit, said Mendez.

However, the city still has to craft the incentive provisions along with the creation of the Tourism Master Plan, which also involves the creation of a tourism port, and one-stop-shop to host the offices of MARINA, DOT, and the Coast Guard in one venue within the port.

According to Mendez, island hopping is one of the top favorite activities of both foreign and local tourists when visiting the island. It is important that island hopping suppliers like banca or boat operators are properly accredited.

One way of enticing them to acquire proper permits and accreditation is put them in a database and give them incentives.

The next phase is to monitor and may be apprehend those operators whose boats or bancas do not comply with the standard of safety and other requirements set by MARINA and DOT.

Early this month, a memorandum of agreement (MOA) was signed by the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) in Central Visayas, MARINA and DOT-7 to ensure that small watercrafts operating to transport passengers and tourists are monitored by the government.

Dubbed as “Oplan Islas” or integrated system to legitimize activities at sea, the initiative was aimed at requiring all watercrafts used in tourism operations to register with the concerned government agencies.

PCG-7 commander Commodore Joseph Badajos, Marina-7 director Marc Anthony Pascua, and DOT-7 director Shalimar Hofer Tamano signed the agreement.

Under the MOA, the PCG-7 will implement Safety Security and Environmental Numbering (SSEN) of small watercraft. MARINA-7 will inspect safety compliance and conduct onsite registration of motor bancas.

Tour operators will not be given certification by the DOT-7 without the registration documents from its partner agencies.

In Central Visayas there are 1,500 to 2,000 tourist vessels like motorbancas that are used for island hopping.

However, there are only 30 tourist motorbancas accredited by the DOT, while 30 other vessels are still undergoing the accreditation process, Tamano said.