The Department of Tourism (DOT) targets to provide training for 100,000 more Filipino hospitality workers next year.

Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco made the announcement during the Global Leaders Dialogue of the 22nd World Travel & Tourism Council Global Summit in Saudi Arabia as she highlights the workforce’s potential to become ambassadors of Filipino hospitality themselves.

“Wherever you may find yourself in the world, whether it’s a hotel, a restaurant, a hospital, a home, or in many other industries, you will find a Filipino, with a warm smile and the distinct hospitality of the Filipino, who is ready and willing the extra mile to make our guests feel happy, at home, and well-served,” she said in a Nov. 28 speech forwarded by the DOT on Thursday.

Frasco said the Philippines continues to bank on the Filipino brand of service excellence as one of the core pillars of the Philippine tourism industry.

She said the training would incorporate the best qualities and positive values of Filipino hospitality.

“(We will) continue to train our people to be purveyors of happiness and, more importantly, purveyors of hope and to build upon all of that in the sense of community, in the sense of the Bayanihan spirit,” she said.

“The idea being that, as we purvey the Filipino brand of service excellence to our 100,000 frontline Filipino workers, they can be the beacons of hospitality to our 100 million Filipino population, ready and willing to receive tourists from all over the world,” she added.

The DOT, under the Marcos administration, has been seeking to strengthen the country’s Filipino brand of service and boost the capacity of micro-entrepreneurs, including food vendors in major tourist destinations.

Just weeks after Frasco assumed position this year, the DOT facilitated the creation of a technical working group to start discussions on the implementation of standards to ensure high-quality tourism services. (PNA)