ATOK, Benguet – From a mere flower seller in Dangwa, Dimasalang, Manila over the past twenty-five years, Lany Ganayan and her family did not expect that Northern Blossom will thrive to be the major flower farm destination in the north now being frequented by thousands of foreign and domestic tourists since early 2018.
Northern Blossom is the name of Ganaya’s flower shop in Manila and it was named after the Benguet calla lily that thrives only in the highlands which is now the name of the now famous flower farm, the premier tourist destination not only in the municipality but also in the entire northern part of the country.
In 1998, Ganayan and her family were engaged in the selling of flowers in their Northern Blossom Flower Shop in Dangwa before expanding to become cutflower farmers in the municipality in 2002.
“We are lucky because of our conducive weather and high elevation that is why we are able to plant imported varieties that thrive well in our place. We did not expect that our efforts to produce flowers will make us a major tourist destination” Ganayan stressed.
She attributed the success of Northern Blossom to both the mainstream and social media because it took the posting of a standout photo of the cabbage rose and being featured by a television channel that enticed people from the different parts of the country to visit their flower farm located right along the Baguio-Bontoc road or Halsema highway in Paoay, Sayangan.
After being featured on February 5, 2018 for a pre-Valentine segment that focused on the giving a cabbage rose to a loved one on Valentine’s Day, visitors started to flock to the flower farm that caught them by surprise, thus, they had to work hard on further developing their farm to accommodate visitors to allow them to enjoy their visit to their place.
The continuous influx of visitors to their cutflower farm opened the opportunity for them to embrace tourism, thus, she had to convince her husband to work on improving their farm to be able to sustain the influx of people and contribute in spurring the local tourism industry and the growth of the economic activities and sources of livelihood of the people.
According to her, even during the pandemic where there were series of lockdowns that were implemented around the country, there were still visitors who arrived at their flower farm and they had to make the necessary adjustments so as not to disappoint these considering the distance they travelled just to reach the municipality and have a first-hand experience of what Northern Blossom provides.
Ganayan claimed that she had to convince their children, a graduate of hotel and restaurant management and an instructor, to give up their respective professions to help in managing the operations of the premier tourist destinations and its allied services considering the significant number of people wanting to visit the flower farm every day.
However, from the previous schedule of Tuesday to Sundays, Ganayan admitted they decided to close on Sundays to help in reducing the impact of the influx of visitors to the flower farm and to allow their workers and the people in the community to attend to their religious obligations and also considering the effect of the influx of people to the current traffic, parking and solid waste problems of the municipality.
Moreover, she said that the closure of their operations on Sundays will also allow visitors to explore other tourist spots not only in the municipality but also in other neighboring towns for them to discover other potential destinations worthy of visiting and promoting that will pave the way for tourism to flourish within the northern towns of Benguet and the central Cordillera.
Atok is now one of the preferred tourist destinations in the north because of the presence of scenic flower farms and other eco-tourism destinations that entice foreign and domestic tourists to extend their visits to these places amidst the travel time involved in visiting the different parts of the Cordillera.
Ganayan explained that the management plans to make the flower farm friendlier to senior citizens and persons with disability (PWDs) to enable this sectors to also enjoy their visit as they observed the presence of elderlies who really want to connect to the plants, thus, appropriate innovations will be introduced to make these sectors enjoy their visit to the farm in the future.
At present, Northern Blossom can now accommodate people wanting to stay for a good number of days in the municipality with their accommodation facility that can cater to the requirements of around 30 individuals through their various rooms, aside from the available home stays being offered by other accommodation establishments in the municipality.
Northern Blossom is a bonafide member of the newly created Atok Tourism Association (ATA) that seeks to strengthen the bond among tourism industry stakeholders in the municipality to boost the growth of the industry and contribute in spurring the growth of the local economy anchored on tourism as its selling point.
Ganayan expressed hope that the town’s tourism industry will continue to flourish with the emergence of more tourist destinations in the different parts of the municipality that will entice foreign and domestic visitors to make Atok as one of the preferred tourist destinations when deciding to go on a well deserved break because of the presence of numerous spots aside from the cool climate and warm hospitality offered by the industry stakeholders. By Dexter A. See
