TEN TOURISM schools in the city competed in the First Tourism Skills Olympics organized by the Davao City Tourism Operations Office (CTOO) on Nov. 10.
In an interview with the City Information Office, Gracie Plata, CTOO’s tourism operations specialist, said the event will empower young tourism students in tourism operations, development, and promotion.
“This is a competition where tourism schools and tourism students can hone their skills for the excellence of tourism service in Davao City and the entire region,” Plata said.
The first of its kind in Davao City and the entire region, the students competed in four categories: tour guiding, tour circuit development, tourism video creation, and tourism brochure creation.
“The main objective is to train our tourism students, give them a platform for practical application to hone their skills in the tourism and hospitality industry,” Plata said.
The participating schools were: Lyceum of the Philippines (LPU) – Davao; University of the Immaculate Concepcion; Philippine Women’s College (PWC); Davao Doctors College; University of the Mindanao (UM) Davao; Holy Cross of Davao College; Mapua Malayan Colleges Mindanao; International Management School (IMS); Jose Maria College Foundation, Inc; and AMYA Polytechnic College.
For the Tourism Video Creation, LPU Davao won, followed by IMS as 2nd and HCDC as third. Meanwhile, PWC won Tourism Brochure Creation; Mapua was second, and IMS was third.
For the Tourism Circuit Design, UM Davao won, while LPU Davao was second, and PWC claimed third place. In Tour Guiding, UM Davao won, followed by IMS, and HCDC in third place.
The CTOO said there are limited categories for the first edition, but they will add more as they aim to make the event an annual activity.
Plata said that they plan to hold the Olympics in September 2026 in line with the celebration of Tourism Month.
