MORE than 6,000 jobs await jobseekers in the tourism industry as the Department of Tourism (DOT) and the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) launch the second leg of “Trabaho, Turismo, Asenso!” Philippine Tourism Job Fair this month.

The two-day job fair will be held simultaneously in Pampanga, Iloilo City, and Cagayan de Oro City on March 30-31.

This initiative is aimed to assist job seekers and tourism enterprises to fill the vacancies in the tourism sector and allied industries.

Earlier, DOT Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco and DOLE Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma inked a Memorandum of Understanding to open up employment opportunities to Filipinos in the tourism industry.

The first-ever national tourism job fair was held in August of 2022.

Last September, the tourism job fair completed its successful pilot run in Metro Manila, Cebu, and Davao which offered some 9,000 jobs and accommodated a total of 5,174 applicants.

Frasco has earlier expressed her commitment to spur tourism destination competitiveness and bank on human capital development not only in major tourist destinations but also across the Philippines.

“We recognize both of our tourism workers and employers across the country as our indispensable partners in ensuring the full recovery of the Philippine tourism industry. Through these tourism job fairs, we hope that we would be able to fill the gap in the human resources of the various tourism stakeholders that have been affected by the pandemic,” said Frasco.

“As we prepare for the return of our visitors from all over the world, it is imperative that our tourism businesses and establishments are 100 percent ready to accommodate our guests,” the tourism chief added.

Through the DOT’s partnership with the DOLE, a total of 6,518 jobs will be offered in the second run of the Philippine tourism job fair, 2,292 of which will be in Region VI; 2,235 in Region III; and 1,991 in Region X.

Meanwhile, 145 participating employers will be coming from the primary and secondary tourism establishments including accommodation establishments, food & beverage sector, MICE facilities and organizers, tourist transport, travel and tours services, as well as the allied services from the three regions.

The job fair will be held in Region III at Robinsons Starmills, City of San Fernando, Pampanga; in Region VI at Robinsons Jaro, Iloilo City, and in Region X at Limketkai Mall, Cagayan De Oro City. More job fairs are expected to commence in other regions of the country in the near future.

Interested job applicants may register in advance online through: https://philjobnet.gov.ph/; Region III – https://tinyurl.com/DOLE-DOT; Region VI – bit.ly/PTJF_PreRegistration and Region X – bit.ly/ApplicantsTurismoJobFair