“Amoma” aims to boost Ilonggo hospitality

The Iloilo City Government through the City Tourism and Development Office (CTDO) is set to launch in March the “Amoma,” an Ilonggo Hospitality Program that will establish and propagate the Ilonggo brand of customer service.

“Amoma” is a unique Ilonggo trait of caring for one’s guests. The Hiligaynon word means hospitality.
CTDO continues to firm up the strategies as Phase 1 focuses on embracing quality standards to develop a manual of operations for the implementation among hotels, restaurants, tourist transport, and tourism attractions.

It will be introduced to frontline tourism and service workers, market vendors, and tourism students as they play a crucial role in the community.

“Mayor Jerry Treñas continues to make initiatives for the beautification of the city. A lot of destinations are established to prepare for the guests and to further the revival of the tourism industry. CTDO believes that Amoma is very timely and complements to beautify the metropolis,” City Tourism Officer Junel Ann Divinagracia stressed.

“We want to inculcate this in the minds of the Ilonggos, since we are known to be ‘amomahun and malambing’, and many tourists have been saying that they feel special if Ilonggos are the ones providing the care,” she added.

Phase 2 is geared towards cultivating a culture of tourism by conducting awareness talks in the top 20 barangays with attractions across seven districts.

As tourism desks are set up, two site guides who have successfully completed Amoma training workshops will be appointed to selected barangays which are still being finalized.

CTDO envisions a local tourism industry that is strongly anchored on the hospitality of the Ilonggos to provide globally competent service. (Andrea Pearl Fernandez/Iloilo City PIO)