LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – The Cordillera office of the Department of Tourism (DOT-CAR) will be donating to the municipal government a tourism plan that will help spur the sustained growth of the local tourism industry which will be the town’s major economic driver apart from agricultural production.
Marie Venus Tan, DOT-CAR regional director, said the preparation of the plan was the initiative of the agency in coordination with the tourism stakeholders from the municipality and it will serve as its gift to the local government on the occasion of the 36th staging of the Strawberry festival.
The DOT-CAR official said the tourism plan will be subjected to further consultations with the concerned sectors of the locality to get their inputs before the finalization of the plan to be ready for turnover to the municipality.
“The tourism plan revolves around the town’s major produce which are strawberry, cutflowers and coffee while its other tourist attractions like trekking, caves and waterfalls as well as other scenic attractions will be considered as value added,” Tan stressed.
She pointed out there is a need for the local government to bank on its proximity to Baguio City to have a share of its increasing tourist arrivals to help provide the visitors with added tourist attractions beneficial to the town’s robust economic growth in the future.
Mayor Romeo Salda expressed the municipal government’s appreciation to the DOT-CAR for having prepared their local tourism plan, saying that its proposed tourism code is still pending before the municipal council with the hope that the plan will be aligned with the code to be passed for the purpose.
Salda admitted tourism is really one of the projected economic drivers because of the availability of scenic tourist spots that serves as a natural pull for foreign and domestic visitors to consider visiting the beautiful places in the town.
La Trinidad is known to be the site of strawberry picking activities and cutflower production providing adequate strawberry and cutflowers to Baguio City and its other neighboring localities.
The town is also banking on coffee as a major crop produced in the locality following the approval of an ordinance authorizing the conduct of the Coffee festival to promote the product in the national and international scenes.
Tan claimed La Trinidad has good potentials of becoming a major tourist destination in the region outside Baguio City once its crowd drawing events and major festivities will be aligned with the town’s major products that will spur economic growth in the future.
The 36th edition of the Strawberry festival will kick off on February 20 following the opening of the month-long agro-industrial fair wherein the 15 barangays will have the chance to display their products in their booths to be put up within the Km. 5 parking area. It will serve as an avenue to promote the various products produced by entrepreneurs in the different barangays that will also serve as value added for the visitors coming to spend a break in the municipality.
By HENT