THE Department of Tourism (DOT) appears to have backtracked on earlier announced plans of using a ride-hailing app’s partner-drivers as tour guides.
After tourism stakeholders loudly protested and took the DOT to task about its project with Grab Philippines, the agency now says tourists will be able to “book a tour guide directly” using the app.
In a news statement issued late Thursday, DOT-National Capital Region (NCR) Director Sharlene Zabala-Batin said the GrabTours Manila project “will offer tourist transportation” from three DOT-accredited accommodation establishments, namely, Sheraton Manila Bay, Okada Manila, and Solaire Resort and Casino. Their destinations will initially cover two major tourist zones in Manila: Intramuros and Binondo. The DOT didn’t say, however, if it will be accrediting Grab vehicles as tourist transport services.
Hastily-called consultations
Sources among the tour guides associations said the DOT hastily called them to a consultation on June 9, after notifying them the late afternoon before, so they could listen to a presentation by Grab representatives.
“They said they called us for a meeting so we could suggest ways how to go about the project. What an excuse! Now they consult us because the issue already exploded,” the sources intimated. (See, “Tourism players hit choice of Grab ‘guide,’” in the BusinessMirror, June 7, 2023.)
While they did air their concerns about the project, the participants noted that Regional Director Batin was not even present at the meeting, “nor any official from the central office who could speak about accreditation rules.” DOT was mainly represented by Supervising Tourism Officer Ivan Agote from the NCR office, while Grab was represented by its Public Affairs Manager Kurt Cendaña.
Said one officer of a tour guide association, who requested anonymity, “The bottom line is, there is still no clarity regarding the project, because they are just consulting us now. The tour guides were very emotional during the meeting, because they asked how can Grab drivers’ training be as exhaustive as our 30-day training?” DOT-accredited tour guides also have to pass the Professional Tour Guide Qualification Exam the agency administers, which consists of a panel interview, written exam, and a mock tour, the same source said.
Meeting with stakeholders today
In a post on its Facebook page on May 12 titled, “On-demand tours in Manila launching soon,” the DOT said, “The [Grab] drivers, who will also undergo briefing on the tourist sites, will double as tour guides during the trip and will ferry the passengers using vehicles wrapped with the distinct Grab and DOT branding.” It was learned that the DOT also invited Angkas, the motorcycle-hailing app, for a similar project. (See, “DOT invited Angkas for tour guide tieup,” in the BusinessMirror, June 9, 2023.)
DOT officials and Grab representatives will meet today (Tuesday) with officers of the major tourism stakeholders groups, along with tourist transport associations in NCR, to further discuss the project. Other sectoral meetings with affected tourism stakeholders are also expected to take place before the project is rolled out.
At their meeting on Friday, the tour guides also took issue with the use of Grab as a booking platform, “because they don’t have the capability to do so. It will come out that Grab is a tourist transport,” which also needs accreditation from the DOT.
The online meeting between DOT-NCR, Grab, and the tour guides on June 9 was attended by about 50 professional tour guides. “More wanted to attend but the meeting platform seemed buggy and didn’t allow more participants,” said a source.