Filipino hospitality excellence soars with DoT surpassing target

TWO months before the year ends, Tourism Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco announced that the Department of Tourism (DoT) reached its target of training 100,000 frontline tourism workers on the Filipino Brand of Service Excellence (FBSE) program.

Undertaken by the Office of Industry Manpower Development, the FBSE program was one of the centerpiece programs of the DoT, which aimed to preserve Filipino hospitality excellence and to enhance and uplift the quality of tourism services in the country.

This highlighted the 7Ms of Filipino values: Maka-Diyos (For God), makatao (for people), makakalikasan (for nature), makabansa (for the country), masayahin (cheerful), may bayanihan (with unity), and may pag-asa (with hope).

As of Oct. 13, 2023, there was already a total of 100,407 trained tourism workers across various sectors such as accommodation, travel and tour, transport, academe, MICE or meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions; farm tourism, tour guide and tourist police.

To recall, the FBSE was conceptualized by the DoT in 2013, with over 13,000 trained since its inception. It was at the helm of Frasco when she set the goal of training 100,000 Filipinos, recognizing the potential of the FBSE program to transform the Philippines into Asia's center for hospitality excellence.

The Filipino brand demonstrated immense love, compassionate care, excellent service and hard work beyond the call of duty — virtues that further set the Philippines apart as a tourism destination.