BAUKO, Mountain Province – Mayor Abraham B. Akilit underscored that barangay officials and stakeholders in the town’s twenty two barangays must start crafting their barangay tourism development plans towards a realistic growth in the local tourism industry.
The local chief executive emphasized that barangay officials must see to it that those who will be assigned to administer, manage and oversee the various tourist destinations in the locality must possess honesty, sincerity and dedication to guarantee the accurate data is gathered to guide decision and policy makers in the formulation of policies beneficial in uplifting the town’s tourism industry.
“We will be conduct a series of consultations with the stakeholders to inculcate the needed values for tourism frontliners to help spur economic growth in the barangays and the municipality as well,” Mayor Akilit stressed.
He believes that the major economic driver for the municipality is ecotourism and priority programs being undertaken is for the preservation and protection of the environment, the town’s primary asset to entice foreign and domestic visitors to visit the identified destinations.
According to him, the influx of foreign and domestic tourists in the various tourist destinations during the Yuletide season is a clear indication efforts to aggressively promote the town’s tourist spots has gained headway and that more tourists are expected to flock to the locality in the future.
Among the key tourist destinations in the municipality include the Mount Data plateau, Mount Polis, Kalimbatawa eco- park and scenic waterfalls and vegetable gardens situated in the 22 barangays.
He said a primary contributor in enticing visitors to flock to the locality is the significant improvement in the infrastructure provincewide, as people can easily go to their destinations through various modes of transportation with good inter-municipal, inter-provincial and inter-regional road networks.
Bauko hosts the Mount Data plateau that serves as the headwaters of the Chico, Magat, Abra and Agno river systems providing abundant water supply for power generation, irrigation, industrial, domestic and other uses for the lowland communities located along the said river systems.
Akilit pointed out tourism industry stakeholders must be honest so that the local government can monitor the income to derived from the fees collected in the various tourist destinations for monitoring purposes, among others.
He called on volunteers from the different barangays to understand the existing situation in the town’s local tourism industry and to cooperate with the policies being put in place to ensure transparency in the operation of their income-generating activities, their source of livelihood.
By HENT
