TUBLAY, Benguet – The Tublay Municipal Government, in partnership with a manila-based foundation, is preparing for the expected launching of the town’s ecotourism industry that is expected to contribute in significantly uplifting the local economy that will result to the improved living condition of the populace.
Mayor Armando Lauro admitted that being a fifth-class municipality, Tublay has no potential source of income that will perk up the desired economic growth, except for the existence of a good environment that stakeholders could work on to ensure the influx of foreign and domestic visitors wanting to explore other alternative destinations outside Baguio City.
“We want to have a share of the tourist arrivals in Baguio city by providing them with the reason to visit beautiful places in the different barangays of our municipality, especially the scenic caves, waterfalls, trekking and rock climbing destinations among others that we were able to maintain through the past decades through the help of our forefathers,” Mayor Lauro stressed.
The local chief executive expressed the gratitude of the municipal officials and the people of Tublay to the I Love Foundation of former Environment Secretary Gina Lopez for providing the local government with the needed technical assistance on how to be ready to welcome the expected influx of foreign and domestic visitors once the ecotourism destinations will be aggressively promoted through a giant television network and its various programs.
According to him, the communities where the ecotourist destinations are located are now busy preparing the expected influx of visitors once it will be officially announced that the sites will be available to explore so that it will be the indigenous peoples and indigenous cultural communities that will directly benefit from the well protected environment.
Lauro claimed that by opening up the town’s ecotourism industry, stakeholders want to make sure that the state of the environment will not be compromised so that its good state could still be passed to the future generations of inhabitants of the municipality.
He added that the local government is also looking forward to strengthen other resource generating sectors such as the agriculture, transport and business sectors so that people engaged in allied services will be able to also gain from the influx of visitors in the coming months, especially that people are now looking for other refreshing destinations that could cater to their needs.
He stated that concerned government agencies and the local government continue to embark on an aggressive information education campaign to allow the populace to understand the benefits of opening up ecotourism sites to visitors considering that they will be the ones that will help sustain the growth of the local economy and provide people with life-long sources of livelihood.
Lauro appealed to concerned sectors to continue supporting the initiatives of the local government in aggressively promoting the ecotourism sites because it will be the residents of the barangays that will directly benefit from the expected influx of people who will patronize their produce among other items being made available by the people in the communities.
By HENT
Featured photos: Bayokbok Falls, located in Barangay Tuel, when properly prepared and developed is one of the natural scenic spots that could potentially attract nature enthusiasts and tourists. Armando M. Bolislis, photos courtesy of Merfred Belino.
