LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – Two of the municipal government’s annual crowd drawing events were reportedly short-listed as finalists for the Association of Tourism Officers of the Philippines – Department of tourism (ATOP-DOT) Awards 2019 as Tourism Best Practices in the country.
On the other hand, the Benguet Association of tourism Officers was also among those in the finalist for the Best Tourism Club in the country for this year.
The annual Strawberry Festival held during March and the La Trinidad Tourism Week celebration every September were part of the numerous crowd drawing events in the country that were short-listed for the coveted Pearl Award which is the highest award that will be bestowed on the top crowd drawing events nationwide.
Mayor Romeo K. Salda said that the municipal government is so lucky this year that two of its crowd drawing events were included in the short-list for the prestigious awrd being given by the group of tourism officers in close coordination with the tourism department.
“We are keeping our fingers crossed but being short-listed in such a prestigious award is already a significant accomplishment on our part. WE will still sustain the introduction of innovations to the annual staging of the said events so that tourists will be enticed to frequent the municipality because of the presence of new attractions,” Mayor Salda stressed.
The local chief executive will be joined by a number of municipal officials and department heads in attending the annual awards ceremony which will be held in Laoag City, Ilocos Norte.
La Trinidad’s Strawberry Festival was always included as a finalist in the Search for Best Practices in the country and that the festival had been issued certificates of recognition as finalist over the past several years.
Salda explained that the success of the town’s two major crowd drawing events was achieved through the active participation of the concerned government agencies, the local government, the private sector and the community in the staging of the activities lined up for the annual gatherings considering that the municipal government cannot do the job alone.
He claimed that whatever support that the local government receives from the different sectors inside and outside the locality is highly appreciated considering that organizers need the support of everyone for the successful staging of the activities that will be prepared for the said major events of the municipality.
The Strawberry Festival is being conducted by the local government every March because it is when there is abundant supply of strawberries that could be used in the production of other by-products of the fruit while the La Trinidad Tourism Week is conducted every September to help in enticing more visitors to frequent the municipality and visit tourist spots that could be reached through trekking among other activities in the locality.
Part of the annual offering of the Strawberry Festival is the baking of the strawberry shortcake which was able to place the municipality in the Guinness Book of world Records after having presented to the public the Largest Strawberry Shortcake in March 2004.
By HENT
