PARACELIS, Mountain Province – More than 40 individuals opted to actively participate in the 3-day tour guide training in this eastern most part of the province.
A first training for guides in the municipality, the training was done in preparation for the coming of visitors and tourists in the town as the municipality opens up for tourism.
An item in the local government unit has been created and is now filled up for someone to cater to the tourism concerns of the place.
A month ago, the primary tourism spot in the municipality, the Mabarotbot “Bubbling” Mud, was featured by the KMJS segment of the GMA Channel TV.
Paracelis has other tourist spots like the Canavo and Ansawang Waterfalls, Iyo Falls, Nansuso earth mounds, little chocolate hills, Siffu River, and a hosts of other attractions to name a few.
“Tourists planning to come here in the near future contacted me. So we facilitated this training,” said Flora Madanom, the newly appointed Municipal Tourism Action Officer (MTAO) in reference to the visitors to the town.
Madanom said that tour guides are needed as she cannot cater to all the visitors and tourists visiting the different barangays of the municipality.
The training was facilitated by the tour guide officers and members of the newly organized Mountain Province Cave and Eco-Tour Guides Association (MPCETG-A) in coordination with the Provincial Tourism Office and Municipal Tourism Office.
The MPCETG-A was organized as an offshoot of the provincial wide training of tour guides conducted by the Department of Tourism-Cordillera Administrative Region(DOT-CAR) last year in Sagada.
Basic Tourism Orientation was given by the Provincial Tourism Office as well as the do’s and don’ts of tour guiding while the MPCETG-A shared the principles of Basic Tour Guiding, Flora and Fauna, Basic First Aid, and Basic Mountaineering.
In the morning of the third day, a mock tour was conducted where the participants engaged in Tour Spiel.
Jay R Guindalos, the leader of the team, emphasized the training would capacitate the potential tour guides with the basic skills in tour guiding in this eastern town.
“We hope that after this training, we will have tour guides available to cater to the increasing tourists in the town,” he said.
In his welcome remarks, Mayor Avelino Amangyen underscored the need for tour guides in the town as there are now tourists coming to town to visit the attractions the town has to offer.
“Even tourists from downtown Isabela come here to view the breathtaking sceneries and get new experiences,” Amangyen said.
By Roger Sacyaten
Banner art by Don Ray Ramos
