DOT-7 Regional Director Shahlimar Tamano during his speech at the countering terrorism awareness training. He highlighted that peace and order in Central Visayas is one of the many yet major contributing factors of its booming economy. (PIA/Cebu City)
Terror attacks happen often in iconic and famous tourism sites.
To increase the security awareness and vigilance of tourism stakeholders, the British Embassy, in partnership with the Department of Tourism (DOT) Central Visayas, hosted a countering terrorism awareness training, April 24.
The two-day event convened over 250 tourism officers, hotel, restaurant and resort managers from the province of Cebu.
DOT-7 Regional Director Shahlimar Tamano stressed the importance of the close partnership of the tourism industry and the security sector, as the country - and not just Central Visayas - benefits from tourism.
Tamano said peace and order in Central Visayas is one of the many yet major contributing factors of its booming economy.
In 2018, DOT-7 recorded 8 million tourist arrivals in the region, accounting for the P44.2 billion injected in the local economy.
Former UK Police Officer, Jason Prize, who now works for the UK National Counter Terrorism Security Office (NACTSO), defined terrorism as any act that uses violence to forward a group’s agenda, which negatively impacts an area, including its economy.
“Terrorists increasingly look for big crowds, where Westerners can be found,” Prize said. “Their attacks are also not spur of the moment, they plan strategically."
Prize briefed the participants on the basic ways of countering high impact terror activities.
One of these is being wary of their marketing, especially online.
“In your attempt to capture the best facilities in your establishments, you might have exposed some security weakness on your part, and that’s dangerous,” Prize said.
He said terror groups might capitalize on the exposed security weaknesses not just of the business establishments but as well as from the part of the government.
He advised the participants to always invest and improve their security and even make it a reason for tourists to visit their place.
The participants were also reminded to cascade to their employees the importance of security, and to always be wary of unusual and suspicious behavior.
Prize also encouraged the conduct of regular security meetings and to prepare security contingency plans, which should be made available to all employees and guests.
UK-NACTSO looks forward to more partnerships with the DOT and the Inter-Agency Task Force- Anti-Terrorism Cluster (IATF-ATC) in conducting more briefings throughout the region.
https://pia.gov.ph/news/articles/1021425
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