LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – The municipal government continues to be a recipient of various tourism projects from the Cordillera office of the Department of Tourism (DOT-CAR) which is geared towards sustaining the growth of the local tourism industry beneficial in generating more jobs for the residents and increasing economic activities and sources of livelihood for the populace.
Mayor Romeo Salda claimed one of the tourism projects that get the support of the DOT-CAR is the put up of a viewdeck and show room of the town’s cutflower industry in barangay Bahong which will surely be a come on for visitors to frequent the area and have a view of the flower plantations in the said area.
On the other hand, the second tourism-related project of the agency in the municipality is the reported painting of the structures in the left side of the road in barangay Pico purposely to compliment the frequently visited painted houses in Km. 3.
However, the local chief executive explained that the DOT-CAR is currently coordinating with concerned artists on what will be the color combination of the structures so that it will be attractive for the visitors to frequent the municipality and contribute to the growth of the local tourism industry and for the town to have its own natural pull for people to include La Trinidad as part of their itinerary when spending a vacation in nearby Baguio City.
“We hope that we will be able to realize the completion of the tourism-related projects by next year to help boost the town’s tourism industry since tourism has been identified to be one of the major economic driver in the locality aside from agriculture and cutflower production,” Salda stressed.
The local chief executive claimed there are numerous suggestions on what will be the color combinations that will be adopted in the painting of the Pico structures but he said the matter will be left to the DOT-CAR and the artists to decide considering that what is important is that residents and visitors will be impressed on the tourist attractions in the municipality as soon as they enter the metes and bounds of the town for them to have the reason to keep visiting the place apart from Baguio City.
According to him, local officials are grateful to the DOT-CAR for considering the tourism programs of the local government as one of the priority projects that the agency will support in the coming years so that the local tourism industry will also grow side by side with the robust growth of the tourism industry in nearby areas like Baguio City.
He called on concerned stakeholders in the municipality to start providing the local government with their inputs on how the tourism-related projects will be implemented by the concerned government agencies so that there will be a wide array of options for the implementers of the project to select what will be the best in terms of enticing to make La Trinidad a must-see tourist destination when visiting the different tourist destinations in the Cordillera.
He claimed that the viewdeck and showroom project in Barangay Bahong was initiated by the barangay officials as part of the barangay-based tourism interventions to help boost the growth of the local tourism industry.
By HENT
