The Association of Tourism Officers of the Philippines (ATOP), an organization of provincial, municipal and local tourism officers all over the country, partners with the University of Santo Tomas in implementing its national programs and activities. The partnership was forged on September 3, 2019 through the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding held at Thomas Aquinas Research Complex, UST.
The UST Graduate School – Center for Conservation of Cultural Property and Environment in the Tropics (CCCPET) and Center for Continuing Professional Education and Development (CCPED) will provide relevant and up-to-date training courses and certificate programs pertaining to cultural heritage tourism and heritage education and interpretation. In particular, the training will introduce new cultural heritage concepts, perspectives and strategies for integration in tourism practice to capacitate practitioners in developing meaningful tourism programs.
The USTGS-CCCPET will assist ATOP in enhancing the categories of the coveted ATOP Pearl Awards for local government units. It will likewise embark on the digitalization of heritage and tourism data from the previous Pearl Awards winners.
The officers of ATOP who were present during the MOU signing were Lanao de Norte Provincial Tourism Officer Ms. Minda Regis (President), Compostela Valley Provincial Tourism Officer Ms. Christine Dompor (Vice President for Mindanao), San Juan City Tourism Officer Ms. Allenmarie Alejo (Secretary General), Mabalacat, Pampanga City Tourism Officer Mr. Arwin Paul Lingat (Auditor), Davao del Norte Provincial Tourism Officer Mr. Noel Dauioag (Secretary for Mindanao), and Montalban Rizal Tourism Officer Ms. Jomelyn Abuan (Regional Representative of Region IV-A). The ATOP Officers were joined by UST Graduate School and other UST administrators.
