Tanauan, Leyte - (August 22) -- At least forty second year Hotel and Restaurant Technology students from the Eastern Visayas State University in Tanauan, Leyte are happy beneficiaries of the Apprenticeship Program of the Department of Tourism, Mayor Roque Tiu informed.

"In fact, Dir. Tiopes and Ms. Recarro disclosed that these 40 Tanauan students are very lucky because they are the first batch of students outside of Metro Manila to avail of this DOT program," Mayor Tiu added.

Mayor Tiu said that DOT 8 Director Karina Rosa Tiopes and Ms. Marie Recarro, tourism operations officer of DOT Office of Products and Research, visited his office to inform him of this happy development – that DOT Secretary Ace Durano has approved the request of the students from EVSU Tanauan for them to avail of the DOT Apprenticeship Program.

The 40 Tanauan students were scheduled to travel to Cebu from August 18 to 21 where the Department of Tourism will shoulder their traveling, meals, tours and billeting expenses, and will take them to the major tourism destinations in Cebu as part of a comprehensive experience of the industry through educational visits and training in tourism establishments.

The students were billeted at the posh Marriot Hotel, an international tourism facility that stands right at the center of the Cebu Business Park.

The first two days will take the students to the major tourism destinations like the Twin City tour (Mactan and Cebu) and Cebu Heritage Walking Tour, Taoist Temple, Taboan where the popular danggit and pusit are sold, Mactan Shrine and Lapu-Lapu Monument, Guitar Factory and Mactan Resort Ocular inspection.

The students will have the chance to have buffet lunch at Maribago Blue Water Resort and visit Fort San Pedro on board a "Tartanilla" to Plaza Sugbu. From there, the students will have a walking tour to the Magellan's Cross, Basilica Minore del Santo Nino Church, Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral, Cathedral Museum of Cebu, Plaza Hamabor, Colon Street, among others, before having buffet dinner at Patio Isabel.

August 20 is the apprenticeship day in the hotel where the students had hands on training on hotel operations such as Food and Beverage, front office, sales and banquet and housekeeping. A buffet dinner at Chika-an Restaurant capped the day.

On August 21, a closing program will be conducted before check out and buffet lunch at Krua Thai Restaurant.

Mayor Tiu thanked Director Tiopes and the Department of Tourism for this apprenticeship program which he said will greatly boost the moral of the students.

For the apprenticeship program of the EVSU-Tanauan students, the DOT has budgeted about P1 million.

The DOT –Tourism Apprenticeship Program, which was launched in January, is a five-day tour that offers selected students a comprehensive experience of the tourism and travel industry through educational visits and experiential training in various tourism establishments.

The program is exclusively offered to the top twenty percent graduating students of tourism related courses, initially from the identified 20 universities and colleges in Metropolitan Manila.

Each run shall be composed of 40 students and two faculty members from each identified school. Two project coordinators from the DOT shall also join the group to ensure the smooth implementation of the program. To date, a total of 350 students from 9 universities have availed of the program. These include students from San Sebastian College-Recoletos who went to Palawan; Philippine Women's University to Davao; Far Eastern University to Palawan; Lyceum of the Philippines to Davao; Arellano University to Bohol; San Beda College to Cebu; La Consolacion College to Bohol; Centro Escolar University to Cebu; and Santa Isabel College to Davao.