Development of Tourist Facilities and Infrastructures in Eight Priority Areas

May 22, 1973

LETTER OF INSTRUCTIONS NO. 75

TO :  All Heads of Departments and Agencies and Provincial, City, and Municipal Officials

In order to make the tourist industry a positive instrument towards accelerated national development, through which more people from other lands visit and better appreciate the Philippines and through which the Filipinos themselves may learn more about the natural beauty, history and culture of this country and thus develop greater pride in and commitment to the nation, and pursuant to Presidential Decree No. 189 dated May 11, 1973, creating the Department of Tourism, it is hereby directed that you and the offices under or within your respective jurisdiction extend all assistance and cooperation to the new Department of Tourism in implementing the tourism program of the government, more particularly in facilitating the entry and egress as well as the hospitable reception, mobility and safety of tourists. casia

The tourism potential in the Philippines points to a favorable future and to this end, it is desirable that leading tourist areas be developed to attract not only foreign tourists, but also our own people. In this connection, it is hereby directed that the Secretary of Tourism, in collaboration with all heads of Executive Departments and all offices, bureaus and agencies under or within their respective jurisdiction, and all heads of national agencies and local governments concerned concentrate efforts in developing tourists facilities and infrastructures in the following eight priority areas:

1. Manila Bay Region particularly, but not limited to, Intramuros and Nayong Pilipino, the provinces of Rizal, Cavite, Batangas, Mindoro, Laguna, Bulacan and Quezon;

2. Northern Luzon provinces starting from Ilocos Norte following the western coastline down to La Union, and including the mountain areas of Baguio, and the Mountain provinces, particularly, Bontoc, and Banaue, the province of Nueva Vizcaya, and the old churches in Ilocos provinces; as well as the province of Pangasinan, particularly the Hundred Islands.

3. Cebu, Bohol, Leyte, particularly the Magellan and Lapu-Lapu monuments and Fort San Pedro in Cebu, the Chocolate Hills in Bohol, the San Juanico Straits and Tacloban in Leyte, and Limasawa Islands;

4. Zamboanga, particularly Fort Pilar and Dapitan, Basilan and Sulu;

5. Bicol Region, particularly the famed Mayon Volcano, Cagsawa ruins and Calayukay beach, Tiwi Hot Springs and Bulusan Lake;

6. Lanao area which is the center of our Muslim culture with its picturesque mosques;

7. The Iloilo-Negros complex; and

8. The Davao provinces including Samal Island and Mount Apo.

The investments in terms of infrastructural support and in tourist plants and accommodation facilities should be concentrated in these areas. The improvement and maintenance of roads, railroads, ports and airports and other means of access linking major tourist attractions within the priority areas should be carried out as soon as possible.

DONE in the City of Manila, this 22nd day of May, in the year of Our Lord, Nineteen Hundred and Seventy-Three. cdt