E. Visayas LGUs urged to aim for best tourism practices bid

TACLOBAN CITY, Oct. 8 – The Department of Tourism (DOT) regional office in Eastern Visayas urged local government units to be more active in tourism in a bid to win in the Association of Tourism Officers in the Philippines – Department of Tourism (ATOP-DOT) Pearl Awards for Best Tourism Practices.

For this year’s ATOP held Friday night in Cagayan de Oro City, the region has the following entries : the Ulot Torpedo Boat Extreme Ride in Paranas, Samar, Samar provincial government; Villa Conzoilo Farm in Jaro, Leyte; Abre-Grande Lawig 2017 of Palompon, Leyte; and Rurumba Adventure Race of San Jose, Northern Samar.

The entries competed in three categories: best practices on community-based responsible tourism, best tourism events sports/adventure, and best tourism-oriented local government unit (LGU).

“For the other LGUs who have decided to take the first steps to develop tourism, we encourage them to make sure that their tourism programs are viable, sustainable, responsible and inclusive. The journey to achieving this may be long and full of challenges, but it can be done as proven by our five awardees in this year’s Pearl Awards,” DOT Regional Director Karina Rosa Tiopes said in an interview Monday.

Samar bagged third place for the best tourism-oriented LGU category, which was won by Ilocos Norte province.

Abre-Grande Lawig 2017 of Palompon town bagged first place for the best tourism events sports/adventure award while Rurumba Adventure Race bagged second place.

Ulot Torpedo Boat Extreme Ride topped the best practices on community-based responsible tourism award while Villa Conzoilo Farm placed third.

“The DOT Region 8 family salutes the winners of the 2018 ATOP-DOT Pearl Awards for Best Tourism Practices. We likewise applaud them for their initiatives and efforts, making sure that their tourism events and programs are innovative, sustainable and above par,” Tiopes said.

“This in itself is a clear indication that the innovative tourism sports events, the best practices in sustainable tourism initiatives, and the notable programs on holistic, responsive and inclusive tourism development that our awardees accomplished are among those that stand out not just in the region, but nationally,” she added.

Tiopes pointed out that the awards will surely inspire the LGUs and their partners to strive even better, motivate other LGUs with similar remarkable tourism accomplishments to join next year’s awards.

The region first joined the competition in 2010 with the province of Leyte winning the best tourism event (festival) provincial level with the Leyte Kasadyaan Festival of Festivals.

In 2014, Palompon town made its first bid for the most tourism oriented LGU municipal level and bagged first place for that category until 2016, when it was proclaimed as Hall of Fame awardee.

In 2017, Palompon, Leyte and the province of Samar made their first bid for Best Tourism Event (Sports) – Municipal Level and Most Tourism Oriented LGU – Provincial Level, respectively. Palompon got the 1st place and Samar Province tied with Ilocos Norte as 1st runners-up.

Tiopes asked LGUs to fully document their tourism policies, programs, projects, activities and events and establish standards and targets, outputs and outcome, by which they can see their milestones and measure achievements, if they want to be part of the Pearl Award.(RTA/PNA)