BAUKO, Mountain Province – Officials of the Cordillera office of the Department of Tourism (DOT-CAR) conducted a recent inspection in the various tourist destinations in the municipality to help in aggressively promoting the locality as a potential tourist destination that would help propel economic growth.
Regional Director Maria Venus Q. Tan of the Department of Tourism, Cordillera was met and guided by Mayor Abraham B. Akilit and Sanggunian members Ricky Samidan, Ashly Sili and Mario Gaoken in a tourism inspection tour here recently.
The tourist spots that were visited by the team were Mount Polis, the 360 degree viewpoint of Mountain Province, including the sights viewed at the summit. These include Balew Rice Terraces, Magwed, Taakan, Mapanawil and the Dap-ay Rice Terraces. Other sights were Mount Nentingli, Mount Kalawitan, and activities like cloud-watching and mountain contour-viewing. The vivacious director conquered Mount Polis via the 540 steps and foot trail. Part of the tour was the exposure to the tourism road leading to Sagada (via Taccong) and the Bagnen-Abatan-Ilocos road. She also had a rendezvous in the only homestay in Bauko with the “sinegtiman kiwet” (jojo fish with fermented tapuy).
Based on the assessment of the DOT-CAR official, she underscored the importance of the well-preserved forests in the different parts of the municipality and proper environmental conservation which is one of the key factors in sustaining the growth of tourism.
She claimed various tourism activities friendly to nature will surely flourish in the locality once the people and officialdom will be able to sustain the good state of the environment.
Mayor Akilit expressed his gratitude to the DOT-CAR team that visited and inspected the tourist spots in the municipality, citing that he is optimistic that the tourism department will be able to extend the necessary technical assistance for the aggressive promotion of the tourist spots in the town.
According to him, tourism will be one of the identified economic drivers of the municipality because of the scenic beauty of the towering mountains that provide a clear view of the highlands and the lowlands, thus, the need for the municipal government to focus on sustaining the promotion of potential tourist destinations for more foreign and domestic visitors.
He said Bauko will serve as a jump off point for foreign and domestic visitors wanting to visit the various tourist destinations in Sagada, Montain Province, Banaue, Ifugao and Tabuk City, Kalinga which are the identified prime tourist destinations in the region over the past several years.
Part of the team were DOT staff, municipal employees, Bauko tour guides and barangay officials of Bagnen Oriente and Bagnen Proper.
By HENT