Davao City Transport Operators Given Tourism Accreditation Deadline

September 25th, 2007 --

Davao Department of Tourism regional director Sonia Garcia said at the regular at Kapehan sa Dabaw at Cafe Rysus said they they work together other government agencies in making sure that Transport Operators servicing tourists are properly certified and continuously upgrade their services offered regularly. Monitoring is done in conjunction with the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB).

The requirement for certification of Tourism Transport Operators is to prevent major problems from occurring, especially in accidents involving vehicles that ferry tourists and to ensure that the City’s Tourists are properly protected (with insurance and similar coverage etc).

Aside from this Dir. Garcia said that they make sure that transport operators are properly recognized by government. In order to apply for certification as a Tourism Transport Operator, head on down to the Department of Tourism, in Landco Building at Bajada, to get acquainted with the requirements and get the necessary forms.

According Davao City LTFRB spokesperson, Edgar Violan, the City already has 23 accredited tourist transport service operators. But cautioned that there are still similar type of tourists’ services running in the city that remain unregistered.

Come October 16 the law will be strictly enforced and those ferrying tourists without proper accreditation will be caught by the LTFRB.

This requirement is covered under LTFRB Circular 2006-058. Which calls for a lifting of the moratorium on accepting application/petitions for new franchises to be reclassified to include corporate transport leasing services that is a sub-classification under Rent-A-Car. Vehicle covered under this include a minimum of four-door Sedans, Vans, SUV’s, Pick-up’s and Limousine’s.

Dir. Sonia Garcia also noted, that in Davao City, only one bus (LCC Liner) is accredited while Metro Shuttle is still working on their application.

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