Saturday, October 06, 2007 Tourism planners urged to come up with saleable strategy
KALINGA as a tourist destination has much better goods to offer compared to other destinations in the country. It just has to strategize its tourism promotion efforts.
Sharing her experiences in Camiguin as a tourist to participants of a seminar-workshop on eco-tourism trade and industry, tourist safety and security, Kalinga Governor Floydelia Diasen said what really prompted her to visit the place was the packaging in the brochure.
“The packaging was so attractive that you really want to see their sites,” she said, adding that Kalinga, with its vast potentials, has a better stand.
She suggested that the packaging should include something mysterious about the place that would rouse the curiosity of the people to come and see it.
Aside from its natural beauty, Kalinga has several interesting things seen only in the province like the ‘sleeping beauty’ of Tinglayan, culture and traditions that are still being practiced by the people and several others.
“We have a very rich customs and traditions and tourism potential which we should be proud of and we could harness to make it as a source of income,” she said, stressing that to do this, it is just a matter of making the people appreciate these potentials.
“It is sad to note that we could not even appreciate what we have in the province since we are so engrossed with the unfortunate situations happening here,” she said.
Diasen suggested that to make a change, participants composed of planners, tourism officers and law enforcers should advocate and direct the attitude of the people towards the development of the province’s eco-tourism industry.
“It is important that we showcase the real Kalinga, its culture, ecology and the things unique in our place,” she said, underscoring that one way of doing this is to “change the definition of Kalinga from head hunters to ‘Kalinga -- a caring and safe community,’ quoting that Kalinga in tagalong means care’”.
But all of these get lost once a visitor experiences something unfortunate in the province, she said, urging government planners to sit down to discuss and plan with the people and all sectors to come up with a consolidated tourism effort that would turn and make Kalinga as an eco- tourism destination.
In her lecture on eco-tourism development, Natividad Sugguiyao, founder and owner of the only successful and world-known tourism outfit in the province -- the Chico River Quest Inc. - said the industry would positively boom and eventually be at par with other world-class provinces.
Taking such positive outlook on the province’s tourism industry, Sugguiyao said this is possible “if we only learn to appreciate and enhance what we have and be positive about it.”
“Kalinga as a tourism destination basically has everything with its vast natural resources and rich culture,” she said, adding that the development of the industry “should start from us.”
Pointing out that the problems on peace and order in the province are isolated cases, she shared that as a proof, she had been entertaining ‘high end’ tourists and visitors in the province for the past years and they have left the province satisfied and wanting to come again.
