LA TRINIDAD, the strawberry capital of the country, bagged two awards in the recently concluded Pearl Awards held in Ilocos Norte last week.
Association of Tourism Officers in the Philippines (Atop) awarded the La Trinidad Tourism Week/Month celebration as the grand champion in best tourism week/month celebration, and the Strawberry Festival 2018 as the first runner-up for the best tourism event in the nationwide search.
Atop-DOT (Department of Tourism) Pearl Awards is an annual competition for all local government units, with major award categories on the best tourism associations, offices, best practices in the community-based responsible tourism and best tourism events
Valred Olsim, Benguet Association of Tourism Officers president and La Trinidad Municipal Tourism officer, said the recent win of the town was unexpected with the roster of shortlisted nominees for every category.
Olsim attributed the recent success of the town to institutionalized policy of the town such as tourism week ordinance and the town adhering to the theme tourism and digital transformation.
"It also helps that the legislators and the local chief executive branch of the La Trinidad local government unit are united, at the same time ordinances are crafted as guide of the different tourism programs, projects and activities for the town," he added.
The organizers of the event also urged the town to join next year with aggressive promotion on the Benguet brand to products such as wines jams.
Olsim added the Benguet Association of Tourism Officers also gained second runner-up for the best tourism association in the country.
"Pearl awards is to recognize best practices of tourism. For us, it is also a way to assess our performance. We may not excel on (tourism)sites but we can excel in activities," the tourism officer added.