Aimed
at boosting further the tourism industry in Sablayan, the municipality’s
ecotourism office led by Ms. Sylvia T. Salgado launched the inception workshop
last July 15, 2015 at the Sangguniang Bayan Session Hall located at the 2nd
Floor of the Sablayan Municipal Building. This also serves as a kick-off
activity towards the drafting and formulation of the local government’s Tourism
Master Plan. The workshop participants came from practically all over the place
from both public and private spheres. The tourism blue print formulation is
facilitated by Ms. Chen Reyes-Mencias and her hubby Louie F. Mencias of the
Blue Water Consultancy, both staunch advocates and prominent figures in Asia
with regards to environmental education and preservation. The firm’s main task
is to provide technical assistance to the local government unit in coming up
with tourism master plan. Next to agriculture, tourism is lifeblood of this
largest municipality in the Philippines.
Ms.
Mencias, while presenting the rationale of the project, have made me discover
the negative impacts of unplanned tourism like what was exposed in the
documentary “Gringo Trails”. Right here in the Mindoro Island, in April last
year, Robert Evora in an article in the Manila Standard Today wrote about the enormous
shortage of potable water in Puerto Galera. Romeo Roxas, president of the
Puerto Galera Business and Tourism Enterprises Association as quoted in the
news item disclosed that, “The town has no tourism development plan, no
environment management plan and Puerto Galera is fast losing its former
grandeur”. Uncontrolled sewage discharge to its coastal waters is the main
ecological disturbance threatening said former quiet and serene coastal town of
Oriental Mindoro. In Puerto Galera, particularly the White Beach, urban
planning and zoning was overlooked. These are classic examples of lack of
effective and sustainable tourism plan, aside from hundreds of cultural, social
(and moral) dangers posing as hazards brought about by unplanned tourism. This
also caused concern to environmental groups due to said tourist destination’s
close proximity to a highly sensitive marine biodiversity area like the world
acclaimed Verde Island Passage, a strait that separates the islands of Luzon
and Mindoro.
In
Lubang town, also in Occidental Mindoro some years back, Blue Water assisted in
mapping out the municipality’s tourism plan through resource mapping and
resource inventory of its islands. Lubang Island’s tourism industry is
gradually claiming prestige as of this time. Many people, me, included, made
mistake in thinking that tourism only deals with promotion or promoting tourist
destinations or spots in the social media or elsewhere. Tourism isn’t just
organizing tourism councils and establishing tourism offices. Tourism is not
only event organizing and projecting cultural activities only the elites and
the socialites taking the center stage. Tourism must also serve the people in
the community and not just the tourists,- both foreign and local, the local
government, businessmen and the contractors. How? That should be considered in
the blue print. Ms. Mencias’ input was Tourism 101 for me for it’s the first
formal lecture I have received about the industry. This is the first time I’ve
ever heard of the so-called Butler’s Tourism Life Cycle.
The
administration of Mayor Eduardo B. Gadiano is in full gear vying for an
ecotourism program for “Amazing Sablayan”. It looks forward for sustainable and
pro-poor tourism programs which highly consider the plight of the people and
their base resources. But to his mind, as relayed in the opening remarks of his
executive assistant Bong Marquez in the inception workshop, Sablayan’s best
practices in local governance, as magnified in various national awards that
made the municipality as a frontline municipality in the country, could also
attract tourists aside from its being one of the ecotourism destinations in
MiMaRoPa region.
Sablayan
in more ways than one (for lack of space I cannot enumerate all here), have
demonstrated key features of good governance which include openness,
participation, effectiveness, accountability and coherence. These principles
must be adhered and/or added to town’s tourism program. The local chief
executive also expects that aside from his town’s tourist destinations like
national parks Mts. Iglit-Baco and the Apo Reef and the other scenic places,
people or tourists from all over would visit Sablayan to study the programs and
policies initiated by his administration that again, are too many to mention.
And
of course, any visionary leader would not allow his or her tourism program
become contributory channel for social, natural and cultural attenuations …
----------
(Photo:
Heraldion Manzano)
http://www.bluewaterconsultancy.info/
http://bulatlat.com/main/2010/03/06/on-mindoros-lubang-islands-a-clash-between-morals-and-tourism/
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/02/23/travel/gringo-trails-review/
http://manilastandardtoday.com/2014/04/29/big-tourist-drop-in-puerto-galera/
http://www.philstar.com/nation/2015/04/16/1444200/jesse-robredo-legacy-draws-tourists-naga
.
No comments:
Post a Comment