IN
2019, THIS BLOGGER was part of a team of resource persons contracted by the
Department of Tourism, Central Visayas Region, to train, educate and enhance
community guides of the different local government units (LGU), whose tourism
programs are focused on adventure or cultural or both. This national project is
called the Tourism Industry Skills Program (TISP) and was implemented by every region
since 2017.
DOT-Central Visayas did not fall behind and, in fact, it was running in full steam. Credit that to its Regional Director, Mr. Shahlimar H. Tamano, and the equally hard-working duo of Senior Tourism Operations Officer, Ms. Cynthia O. Monzon, and Tourism Operations Officer, Mr. Eli John Eduave. They were able to assemble a veteran team composed of tourism service specialists and outdoor educators and they were Ms. Agnes Tuling, Mr. Ruel Rigor, Ms. Rosebelle Daculan, Mr. Ramon Vidal, Mr. Randy Salazar and mister yours truly.
Many aspiring community guides participated in the TISP. Those who passed the series of tests and evaluation given by DOT-Central Visayas are issued special tourism guide license, which scope are confined to the LGU where they belonged or recognized thereat as a community guide. The license gives the holder legitimacy to undertake work of a community guide and, therefore, protects the tourists and their LGU from fly-by-night opportunists.
The following are the LGUs that have benefited from the TISP offered by DOT-Central Visayas. Each has its own existing tourism programs based on its identity which had already been carved from or associated with the landscape and the landmarks and these had made each LGU unique and worth a visit. This writer would add his personal observations, in italics, as you sift through each LGU on the visit of Team TISP.
MUNICIPALITY
OF BADIAN
Province of Cebu
August 17-24, 2019
ATTRACTIONS: Kawasan Waterfalls; Matutinao River; Lambug Beach; Badian Island; Osmeña Peak; Candung-aw Peak and Tañon Strait.
ACTIVITIES:
Canyoneering/River Trekking; Swimming/Bathing; Picnic; Snorkeling;
Hiking/Camping; Zipline Gliding.
TISP was held at Eskapo Verde, an eco-tourism resort located on an islet off Bugas, Badian. The area is conducive for learning since it is accessible through a 250-meter long bamboo walkway over an estuary where mangroves grow, far away from the Cebu Southwest Road. Accommodation for the DOT-Central Visayas TISP Team was also in Eskapo Verde. 5 stars out of 5.
Eskapo Verde is a perfect
magnet to develop and to include water sports, like kayaking and stand-up
paddling (SUP), into the tourism map of Badian LGU. Besides, the five small
islets and a half-buried shipwreck all in close proximity to Eskapo Verde is
also another venue to develop a new tourism activity of mangrove kayaking.
What a lot of people in Badian do not know is that the longest Camino de Santiago in the Philippines starts from their own St. James the Apostle Parish, located in Poblacion. This is a pilgrimage route that climb over the mountains to Dalaguete and goes north to Compostela, 175 kilometers away. This is patterned after the one in Spain and have been established here in Cebu since July 2017. It passes by the barangays of Dagatan, Malhiao, Sohoton, Tigbao and Santicon.
CITY
OF CARCAR
Province of Cebu
August 27-September 1, 2019
ATTRACTIONS: Preserved Spanish Colonial Infrastructures; Carcar City Museum; Indigenous Food/Delicacies; Guadalupe Mainit-Mabugnaw National Park; and Theotokos Shrine.
ACTIVITIES:
Cultural/Historical Tour; Gastronomic Tour; Spelunking/Cave Tour;
Hiking/Camping; Sightseeing/Birdwatching; Warm Water Bathing.
TISP was held in a vacant room of the new Carcar City Hall. The seminar is partly shouldered by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Region VII, because of the inclusion of the GMMNP in the city’s tourist mapping. Accommodation for the DOT-Central Visayas TISP Team was at Tatope Travel Lodge, located along the Cebu South Road, Carcar City. 1 star out of 5.
Most people in Carcar City do not know yet that both the 400-kilometer Cebu Highlands Trail and the 175-kilometer Camino de Santiago pass by their city. The two long trails both enter Barangay Napo on the same way and exits from Barangay Calidngan at two different paths.
On the other hand, Carcar City still has remnants of the industries that it had once depended on in the past. Instead of placing them in the dustbin of existence, why not include these into their tourist map. I am talking about leathercraft and bladesmithing. Why not fuse these two and develop a new tourism destination under “blade tourism”?
MUNICIPALITY
OF SAMBOAN
Province of Cebu
September 8-15, 2019
ATTRACTIONS: Aguinid Waterfalls; Binalayan Waterfall; Dao Waterfall; Preserved Spanish Colonial Infrastructures and Tañon Strait.
ACTIVITIES:
River Trekking; Swimming/Bathing; Snorkeling. Picnic; Cultural/Historical Tour;
Sightseeing/Birdwatching.
TISP was held inside the session room of the Samboan Municipal Hall. Accommodation for the DOT-Central Visayas TISP Team was at Chelan Resort House, located along the Cebu Southwest Road, Poblacion, Samboan. 3 stars out of 5.
The Cebu Highlands Trail established a campsite on a ridge of Barangay Monteverde. It would be best if the Samboan LGU would develop it into a camping area because of its proximity to a water tank.
MUNICIPALITY
OF SAN FRANCISCO
Province of Cebu
September 22-29, 2019
ATTRACTIONS: Lake Danao; Paraiso Cave; Amazing Island Cave and Beach Resort; Timubo Cave; Santiago Bay; San Francisco Baywalk and Causeway; Indigenous Handicrafts.
ACTIVITIES:
Hiking/Camping; Zipline Gliding; Kayaking/Paddling; Picnic; Spelunking/Cave
Tour; Swimming/Bathing; Sightseeing/Birdwatching.
TISP was held inside the function room of the San Francisco Multi-Purpose Cooperative, Poblacion, San Francisco. Accommodation for the DOT-Central Visayas TISP Team was at Dayon Lodge, also in Poblacion. 1 star out of 5.
MUNICIPALITY
OF TUDELA
Province of Cebu
September 30-October 6, 2019
ATTRACTIONS: Bukilat Cave; Buenavista Heritage Tree; Villahermosa Giant Clam Sanctuary; Tudela Mangrove Forest; Busay Waterfall; Makalabad Peak.
ACTIVITIES:
Spelunking/Cave Tour; Cultural/Historical Tour; Sightseeing/Birdwatching;
Swimming/Bathing; Snorkeling; River Trekking; Hiking/Camping;
Kayaking/Paddling.
TISP was held in the function hall of Villa Alicia Resort, Poblacion, Tudela. Accommodation for the DOT-Central Visayas TISP Team was also at Villa Alicia Resort. 3 stars out of 5.
All blacksmiths in Tudela LGU still used improvised oven and blower and still produce the best blade tools that are used by farmers and homesteads on the islands of Poro, Pacijan and Ponson. It may be worth the effort to include these blacksmith shops into the tourist map of the LGU under the new destination of “blade tour”. It may be even viable if the three other LGU of the Camotes Group of Islands decides to join hands and save this dying industry.
MUNICIPALITY
OF ALICIA
Province of Bohol
October 9-16, 2019
ATTRACTIONS: Alicia Panoramic View; Birhen Nature Resort; Cagong-cagong Cave; Princess Manan-aw Cave; Chocolate Cave; Alicia Schist Rock.
ACTIVITIES:
Hiking/Camping; Trail Running; Bathing; Sightseeing/Birdwatching; Spelunking/Cave
Tour; Cultural/Historical Tour.
TISP was held, respectively; for the first three days, at The Farm in Alicia, Cambaol, Alicia; and for the rest of the week, in the function room of the Alicia Municipal Hall Annex. Accommodation for the DOT-Central Visayas TISP Team was also at the Alicia Municipal Hall Annex. 1 out of 5.
=> => o0o <= <=
WHILE TOURISM MAY BRING in revenues needed by the LGUs, it has its downside as well.
We have seen the decay that over-commercialization and over-development have
done on so many places and are now shunned by most tour operators due to lesser
tourists. The TISP is just not improving skills on the tourism operators but
also considers the health of the environment of a destination as an integral
part of development and the team emphasized that in our 2019 LGU tour.
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