MANILA, Philippines – The Commission on Audit (COA) flagged what it described as unnecessary and excessive foreign travel expenses incurred by officials of the Tourism Promotions Board (TPB) in 2023.
In its 2023 report, state auditors noted a 57% increase in the TPB’s spending on foreign travels during the year. A significant portion of the additional costs were charged to a Department of Tourism (DOT) program called Bisita, Be My Guest (BBMG).
The program aims to encourage overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and other Filipinos abroad to invite their foreign peers to visit the Philippines.
COA wrote that the lead agency for the program was the DOT, while the TPB only held a supporting role. It questioned the TPB’s deployment of multiple personnel to perform what it described as redundant functions.
The TPB executives tagged in audit observations include the following officials who incurred P3.74 million in travel expenses:
- The Domestic Promotions Department (DPD) manager and the acting head of the Branding Management and Advertising Division who attended BBMG events in Tokyo, San Francisco, London, Germany and the UAE;
- A TPB project development officer who joined BBMG in Tokyo, San Francisco and London to “prepare logistics” and attend “administrative arrangements”;
- Four other TPB executives flew to Dubai to “provide assistance, facilitate, or coordinate,” and;
- Two more officials that flew to Germany for “assistance and coordination.”
Seven TPB officials also spent P890,500 when they attended the World Travel Market in London in November 2023. These include the TPB’s deputy chief operating officer for marketing and promotions, and acting heads of the International Promotions Department (IPD) in various continents.
However, COA questioned their presence at the event since their tasks included monitoring and coordinating necessary arrangements and engaging in business-to-business (B2B) activities.
“These activities were all being performed by the Deputy Chief Operating Officer for Marketing & Promotions and the other responsibilities of the TPB delegates in WTM are somewhat similar to each other, thus, their presence is already questionable for being unnecessary,” state auditors wrote.
In its response to the audit report, the TPB maintained that the officials’ presence in the events abroad were necessary in managing what it described as critical tasks. But it vowed to draft guidelines to ensure there is a consistent policy when deploying staff to tourism events abroad. – Rappler.com