Over 8,000 job vacancies are available at the first government-led tourism job fair in Manila, Cebu, and Davao, the Department of Tourism (DOT) said Thursday.

The staging of the Trabaho, Turismo, Asenso job fair, jointly organized by the DOT and the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), was in response to tourism stakeholders’ call for assistance amid difficulties in hiring back employees displaced during the pandemic.

“Starting July one of the concerns raised by our tourism employers is the challenge of getting back their previous staff, particularly in the accommodation sector. This is why we had a partnership on the first Philippine tourism job fair,” Tourism Assistant Secretary Maria Rica Bueno said during the fair’s opening at SMX Convention Center in Pasay.

The job fair, where a total of 8,304 vacancies are available, will run from Sept. 22 to 23 in Cebu and Davao, and from Sept. 22 to 24 in Manila.

Some 157 employers from accommodation establishments, travel and tour services, Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions (MICE) facilities and organizers, tourist transport operators, health and wellness services, restaurant/food services, and other tourism-related establishments also joined the event.

Based on the latest data from DOLE, at least 6,236 have so far registered, with a total of 2,124 applicants tagged as “near-hired” as of 4 p.m. Applicants may register or opt to walk in during the job fair series, the DOT said.

Bueno, meanwhile, clarified that this would be a series of job fairs, with the next one expected in the first quarter of 2023.

In a video message, Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco, who is in New York as part of the Philippine delegation led by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., hoped that this initiative would pave the way for the fast recovery of Philippine tourism.

“We are steadfast in concretizing the objective of our President Bongbong Marcos for tourism to herald the Filipino brand, one that will spark pride of place and love of country. And it is you, our tourism workers and stakeholders, who are the best representation of the Filipino brand,” she said.

“[T]oday, we provide you with opportunities to continue to be our partners as we recover from all the challenges that we have faced. Everything that we are doing in the Department of Tourism is to serve the goal of ensuring that we put our tourism stakeholders front and center of our agenda,” she added. (PNA)