SAGADA, Mountain Province – Five inns and homestay establishments in this mystical town won in the recently concluded 2023 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Homestay Awards after satisfactorily complying with the minimum requirements of the prescribed standards.
The 2023 ASEAN Homestay awardees from the municipality include Inandako’s Bed and Breakfast, Gina’s Homes, Sid Homestay, Hide Away House, and Maryhilz Homestay.
The ASEAN Tourism Standards Awards is an initiative of the ten ASEAN member-states to encourage the different enterprises of the tourism sector to further uphold service excellence with respect to the standard of sustainable tourism in their respective regions. This award is an annual event that recognizes tourism service excellence in Seven (7) Categories: Green Hotel, Community-based Tourism, Homestay, Clean Tourist City, Spa Services, MICE Venue, and Public Toilet.
The municipal government congratulated the awardees and the Sagada Inn Keepers and Home Stay Owners Association (SIHA) for continuously adhering to excellence in providing quality tourism services in the municipality to cater to the needs of the increasing number of foreign and domestic visitors wanting to spend their well-deserved break in the locality.
Said awardees will be attending the 2023 ASEAN Tourism Standards Awarding Ceremony this February 5, 2023 at Marriott Yogyakarta, Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
Sagada is one of the premier tourist destinations of foreign and domestic visitors in the Cordillera because of the presence of nature attractions such as caves, waterfalls, rice terraces, among others.
Local officials disclosed that the achievements of the awardees should serve as a motivation and inspiration to other inns and homestay establishments to further improve the quality of their services to conform with the prescribed ASEAN standards for them to be able to receive the same recognition in the future.
On the other hand, the municipal government also expressed its gratitude to the organizers of the 2023 ASEAN Homestay Awards for recognizing the unwavering and unrelenting efforts of innkeepers and home stay owners in continuously introducing the needed improvements on their services for the utmost satisfaction of the visitors wanting to visit the municipality and experience staying away from their toxic life in the urban centers in the country.
Foreign and domestic tourists, especially nature lovers, prefer to travel to Sagada before proceeding to Banaue, Ifugao, another popular tourist destination, to view the people’s rice terraces, among other major attractions in the Cordillera.
The increasing number of local tourism industry stakeholders is an indication of the gradual and safe revival of the tourism industry that was heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic over the past 2 years that displaced some workers and the closure of tourism-related establishments after the imposition of series of lockdowns to contain the rapid spread of the deadly virus.
