BAGUIO CITY – The completion and ongoing implementation of some sixty tourism road projects in the different parts of the Cordillera over the past twelve years tremendously improved accessibility to various sites and destinations in the different parts of the region, an official of the Cordillera office of the Department of Tourism (DOT-CAR) said here Tuesday.
Sylvia Chinayog, DOT-CAR Supervising Tourism Operations Officer, said that the tourism road projects that were implemented by the Cordillera office of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH-CAR) headed by regional director Khadaffy Tanggol included 5 road projects in Ifugao, 14 in Benguet, 11 in Apayao, 8 in Kalinga, 7 in Mountain Province and 5 in Abra having a combined project cost of PhP9.9 billion.
She claimed that in the span of 12 years, people have seen various Tourism Road Improvement Project (TRIP) roads benefitting communities and destinations and has brought closer to the visitors the sites that were once too impossible to visit due to the condition of access.
Further, the tourism road convergence projects has brought more people than before due to the ease of travel and shorter travel time, thus, those visitors with limited time can already swing to sites and destinations where it was impossible without good roads.
According to her, the Turod-San Gregorio-Shalom-Lussok road leading to the famous Lussok cave in Luna, Apayao made it easy for visitors to visit the said cave, dip in its river and trek its above ground forest in a half day.
Chinayog claimed that the same is true with the completion of the Dalican-Batad road in Banaue, Ifugao where the Batad rice terraces that was once a 2-hour trek to reach is now a 20-minute trek from the end of the said road.
On the other hand, the construction of the road along Ambangeg junction to the ranger station at the Mount Pulag National Park shares the same story.
“It cannot be denied that the roads brought along with it other economic activities and related development in the value chain. Communities where tourism was not known has become a primary if not an alternative livelihood. Economic prosperity is very evident in those tourism destinations mentioned earlier,” she said.
However, the DOT-CAR official stipulated that there are other known sites that developed and upgraded when roads were built to provide for mobility, businesses flourished, there is the presence of accommodation facilities, restaurants, eateries, shops, stores, and other enterprises like food processing that were not normally patronized.
Chinayog added that the Bugnay-Mangape-Buscalan-Luccong-Butbut proper road leading to Buscalan tattoo village in Tinglayan, Kalinga also contributed in spurring tourist arrivals in the said area.
Moreover, among the other similarly situated roads include the Tomiangan access road leading to the white water rafting jump off point in Tabuk City, Kalinga; the access road leading to Ammung festival, Yao Jia Xi Dragon fruit farm, Domingo’s integrated organic farm, municipal forest library, Magat dam wetlands, MARIS dam wetlands, BFAR Aqua Park, barangay Sto. Domingo, Alfonso Lista, Ifugao.
She underscored that the tourism roads made accessible new tourism sites that afforded the destinations some new, an enhancement of what used to be offered that gives the destinations another pull factor for return visitors.
The tourism roads that contributed in the opening up of new sites and destinations included the access road leading to the Bangabanga falls in Tabuk City; the Butbut Proper-Tulgao-Dananao-Sumadel-Mallango road leading to the Tulgao and Sumadel rice terraces, the Palan-ah falls and hot spring in Tinglayan, Kalinga; the Cassag-Bacarri-Cawayan-Buringal Proper-Sinmal road leading to Smokey, Makilo Sphinx, Mabarutbot mud pool, Little Chocolate hills, Buringal waterfalls in Paracelis, Mountain Province; and Quirsodan-Baquero road leading to Panaclisan river and rock formation in Licuan-Baay, Abra.
She also disclosed that the tourism arrivals in the region has been significantly increasing, causing a positive outlook to the region’s tourism industry.
The TRIP has been a convergence initiative between the DOT and the DPWH that started in 2012 and has continued through the past 12 years that translated to improved accessibility of various tourism destinations and the discovery of new tourism sites and destinations resulting to significant improvement in the region’s tourism industry performance through the years. By Dexter A. See