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ECO-CULTURAL
tourism was then an unthinkable word, until the Boholanos
showed what it is.
Entirely
packaging a tourism that is a spin-off from the traditional
definitions, Bohol's eco-tourism has made it a model for the
country, admits Secretary Joseph Ace Durano, during awarding
ceremonies of the Department of Tourism (DOT) Turismo Mismo
grantees in Magtangtang Danao, Bohol, May 1.
"Even
at a time when eco-tourism was not crafted yet, the Boholanos
were able to define it," he said after going through
the Eco, Educational, Extreme Adventure Tourism (EAT) in Danao.
The
eco-tourism concept is one where there is responsible travel
to nature areas, doing activities like birdwatching, caving,
farm visits and rice field walks, kayaking or simply sightseeing.
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In
Danao, local officials led by Mayor Thomas Louis Gonzaga
also put in a twist in their adventure tourism by introducing
river trekking, tyrolean traverse, rappelling, bouldering,
rock and root climbing and even bungee jumping.
The
concept is to integrate all these in a huge nature park
which has been the base camp of a revered Boholano hero;
Francisco Dagohoy, while instilling in the tourists'
mind the idea of preserving nature, the natural landscape,
the watershed, the forest ecosystem and the town's history
and cultural heritage, said a billboard at the park's
jump-off point.
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In
fact, even Bohol Representative Edgar Chatto also confessed
that when the House of Representatives deliberated on the
bid for Bohol to be declared an eco-cultural tourism destination
in the country, legislators called it a misnomer.
Legislators
said [being] cultural also encompasses the ecology and the
environment.
Chatto
said he argued that it took the Boholanos about seven months
to craft the vision for Bohol, and eco-cultural tourism is
what they meant.
He
said the House legislators finally agreed to adopt the term,
after the local representative detailed the meaning of the
word according to the Boholanos.
Chatto,
who was a vice governor then was a key instrument in the crafting
of Bohol's tourism vision as a province.
On
eco-tourism, Durano asserts that Danao Bohol's tourism direction
is basically what the DOT's Turismo Mismo is all about.
The
department spun a campaign of not just giving people jobs,
which seems to be superficial, but on giving people livelihood,
which would make the projects sustainable.
Turismo
Mismo is one where it is the people of the place who benefit
from the resources, one he calls as Pilipino Mismo.
Also
in Bohol, the DOT through Turismo Mismo granted woodcarving
power tools and equipment to Loboc Woodcarvers Association,
Polvoron making equipment for Anda Countryside Entrepreneurs,
kayaks and accessories for Cantubod Association for the Rehabilitation
of the Environment (CARE) and several more grantees.
In Danao, the DOT brought Grass Roots Entrepreneurship and
Employment in Tourism (GREET).
Meanwhile,
Danao Mayor Gonzaga agreed that tourism to be sustainable
should not just be about jobs but about livelihood as well.
(rachiu/PIA)
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