Gatanela: Environmental planning and sustainable tourism in Bago City

THE Bago City Government in Negros Occidental headed by Mayor Nicholas Yulo gathered more than 30 stakeholders and experts on June 12, 2018 (Independence Day) to discuss sustainable tourism promotion and enhance its branding, especially for its attractions.

Dubbed as the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) and Tourism Stakeholders Interaction, the event was coordinated by the Bago City Tourism Office.

The guest presenter and resource person was Susan Santos de Cardenas, who is Philippine representative to the GSTC and president of the Society for Sustainable Tourism and Development Inc. (SSTDI), a non-government unit (NGO) active in sustainable tourism promotion and advocacy.

A Bacolodnon international sustainable tourism expert, Susan Santos de Cardenas is based in Jakarta, Indonesia, where his husband, Julio Cardenas, is the Ambassador of Peru to Indonesia.

The GSTC criteria serve as the global baseline standards for sustainability in travel and tourism. They are the result of a worldwide effort to develop a common language about sustainability in tourism.

The GSTC criteria are arranged in four pillars: Sustainable management, Socioeconomic impacts, Cultural impacts, and Environmental impacts (including consumption of resources, reducing pollution, and conserving biodiversity and landscapes).

I was present at the affair upon the invitation of Susan, because I am a director or trustee of SSTDI.

Indeed, many national and local governments around the world promote tourism. After all, tourism brings not only financial and economic benefits to a country and city resulting in employment generation, taxes and income. It also revitalizes and invigorates communities. It connects people, from strangers to friends to family.

My insights during the tourism stakeholders interaction were that for tourism to be sustainable in the local government unit like Bago City, it is necessary that environmental planning and city tourism development must be fully coordinated.

That is why there is a need for environmental planning and plan implementation, to manage and regulate the use and development of tourism attractions, land and water resources, in relation to their environs, for the development of sustainable communities and ecosystems

This is to ensure authenticity, protect local culture and the environment, and engage the local communities to make city tourism promotion successful.

What happens when a city or locality does not undertake environmental planning for its tourist attractions which give identity to the place and bring in tourists and visitors?

The case of the world-famous Boracay which in 2017 earned tourist-spend receipts of P56 billion from two million tourists is a classic example. For lack of environmental planning, the island famous for its white sand beaches and azure cool water had become an ecological disaster, resulting in its closure to effect a much needed clean up and rehabilitation.

Another example is Coron in Palawan, which is following the example of Boracay.

Thus, the Bago City tourism stakeholders interaction was a step in the right direction. In addition to the four GSTC criteria, environmental planning and implementation, there must also be safety and security for visitors and tourists, good food (gastronomy tourism), better facilities, and engagement with the communities where the attractions are located.

It is only then will tourism becomes sustainable, an engine of growth for a city like Bago. Tourism will also become a way of life, one that can provide benefits for all that is involved – the city government, the stakeholders, the communities and the tourists.

Eli Gatanela is a lawyer and environmental/urban planner. For comments and feedback, e-mail eligat_ph@yahoo.com.

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