ATOK, Benguet – Tourism in this northern town continues to flourish with the significant increase in tourist arrivals which will definitely contribute in spurring local economic growth beneficial to the agri-tourism industry stakeholders.
Mayor Franklin Smith said that the local government was able to record more than 93,000 foreign and domestic tourist arrivals for the first five months of the year compared to the 63,000 reported arrivals for the whole of 2023.
“The inclusion of Atok in the region and provincial tourism circuits has been instrumental in enticing foreign and local visitors to consider our agri-tourism destinations as part of their itinerary when travelling to the central Cordillera. We are keeping our fingers crossed that we will be able to sustain the increase in tourist arrivals because it will definitely serve as one of our economic drivers,” Mayor Smith stressed.
The local chief executive claimed that the local government continues to empower concerned stakeholders of the local tourism industry to adopt to the needs of the visitors such as the provision of clean rest rooms, adequate parking areas among others to be able to convince more tourists to visit and enjoy the sceneries offered by the different agri-tourism destinations.
He lauded the initiative of private individuals in heavily investing in the improvement of their respective properties to offer unique experiences to visitors frequenting the locality because it had significantly contributed in placing the municipality in the map of the country’s tourism industry as a must-see destination relative to agri-tourism spots worthy of emulation by other similarly situated communities inside and outside the region.
He explained that the town did not experience having enormous tourist arrivals even before the COVId-19 pandemic because of the limited tourist destinations amidst the implementation of programs, projects and activities by the local government and concerned government agencies to remote the municipality as a must-see destination while on the way to the central Cordillera.
According to him, if there was an advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was the creativity and innovation embraced by agriculture industry stakeholders to convert their vegetable and flower farms to agri-tourism sites that gained the attention of social media influencers which paved the way for the significant increase in tourist arrivals in the municipality through the years.
Aside from the sceneries that can be gleaned from the various agri-tourism destinations in the municipality, Atok also takes prides in having a cool weather condition throughout the year that drops to close to zero degrees Celsius during the cold months every November to march that serves as a natural pull for visitors to drop by the locality as its temperature is much lower compared to Baguio City.
The municipality could be reached by around two hours of land travel using public or private transportation as it is one of the towns that will be traversed when travelling along the Baguio-Bontoc road, popularly known as the Halsema highway. By Dexter A. See
