SQUEEZED between the busy calendar of the May elections and the La Trinidad Foundation day celebrations, is the town’s Tourism week which commences Tuesday, May 21, 2019 and will end on May 27, 2019.
The said celebration was institutionalized by the town’s local policy or as per Municipal Ordinance No. 36- 2018 (the La Trinidad Tourism Week Ordinance which should be celebrated every third week of May). The said tourism week activities aim to instill the needed consciousness on tourism as an instrument of progress towards accelerated local development and investments, and the appreciation and promotion of the locality’s culture, identity, and stories.
Before it was institutionalized, the tourism-related activities by the local government was ushered by La Trinidad’s first Tourism Summit in 2015 which gathered tourism stakeholders for the needed inputs and suggestions for tourism action plan implementation. Distinctively, the 2017 Tourism Conference has the better review because it was held in Mt. Kalugong where the Benguet culture and dishes were highlighted. Last year’s tourism week was toned down in consideration of the Benguet tragic experience brought by a super typhoon.
The town’s tourism week celebration is expected to create an opportunity for stakeholders to showcase tourism potentials and to encourage more people to support the tourism development programs and plans of the Municipality.
The following are the activities for this week at the La Trinidad Municipal Gymnasium; Opening on May 21 (9am) followed by a Mobile Photography seminar and Job Fair on the same day – it also the start of the week-long Product Fair for local MSMEs; Tourism Conference on May 22 for the town’s tourism stakeholders; Medical Mission on May 23, MSME forum and a free mini-tour on May 24 followed by an evening concert; Tour-guiding forum of May 25 followed by an open jam session; and Creative Demonstrations on May 26. The week-long activities will be concluded on the 27th of May to pave way for the town’s 69th La Trinidad Foundation Day preparations.
The set of activities primarily aims to instill tourism-consciousness to the community. At present, La Trinidad is only one of the few towns in the northern part of the country that invests and implements these kinds of tourism activities. As we have said weeks ago, in time, and with the town’s sustained assistance and the community’s support, the Benguet capital town will definitely reach greater heights.