LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – The municipal government stole the limelight in the recently concluded 14th Pearl Awards of the Association of Tourism Officers of the Philippines (ATOP) and the Department of Tourism (DOT) after its various tourism-related events were able to garner awards from the organizers.
The town’s Tourism Week celebration was the grand winner in the Best Tourism Week celebration while the famous Strawberry Festival landed as first runner-up in the Best Tourism Event festival category.
Further, the Benguet Association of Tourism Officers was adjudged as the second runner-up in the Best Tourism Organization club category.
Mayor Romeo K. Salda led the local government’s lean and mean delegation in receiving the recognitions that were bestowed on the major tourism-related events that will surely contribute in enticing more domestic and foreign visitors to visit the municipality and enjoy the numerous culture-related tourism events that will be prepared for the crowd drawing events.
“The awards that were bestowed to our tourism-related events were a product of our individual and collective efforts to elevate the conduct of our crowd drawing events to a higher level, especially in providing added attractions to entice tourists to make it a point to visit our municipality during the conduct of the said events. It has always been a product of the solid partnership between the government and the private sectors,” Mayor Salda stressed.
The local chief executive claimed that the local government will continue to work on the implementation of short, medium and long-term tourism-related programs that will contribute in enhancing the town’s tourism industry so that it will be able to attract more domestic and foreign visitors to spend time going around the different tourist spots in the municipality.
According to him, the awards that were received by the local government will serve as an inspiration and motivation for local officials and the tourism industry stakeholders to introduce whatever appropriate innovations that will help in improving the local tourism industry because the municipality is one of the ideal places for ecotourism.
Mayor Salda admitted that one of the lacking aspects of tourism in the municipality is the absence of accommodation facilities that will convince visitors to append a night or two in the locality but La Trinidad’s proximity to Baguio serves as an advantage over other tourist destinations in the province because visitors could always go back to the city to enjoy decent accommodation from existing hotels and other accommodation facilities that offer affordable rates.
He encouraged prospective investors in the put up of accommodation establishments to consider the municipality as one of the sites where they could put up hotels or transient houses to cater to the growing needs of visitors wanting to spend several days in the locality and enjoy its existing trekking destinations among other spots such as the strawberry farm, cutflower gardens and scenic viewpoints.
Salda expressed his gratitude to the officialdom and the people of the municipality for their unrelenting and uncompromising support in the aggressive promotion of the town’s tourism industry that will help spur the economic activities in the locality.
By HENT
