PROSPECTS for Bohol tourism gets better and better, Department of Tourism Secretary Joseph Ace Durano said in Danao, Thursday.
“In the first three months of this year, the country had more that a million foreign tourists who have spent more than a billion dollars to the local economy,” he said.
Moreover, he added that the figure is exclusive of the domestic tourists, whom he said has been trooping to Bohol to experience the countryside tours.
He cited that Bohol is getting the edge now, being one of the country’s fastest growing tourist destinations because of its well developed highways and road networks and the upcoming opening of the Panglao island International airport.
While in Danao to test run a new eco-adventure tourism, he said the interior Bohol tour packages has become a very feasible project.
“The infrastructure here is already set-up and apart from the government development programs, Bohol’s program for environment protection is its foremost attraction,” he admitted.
This has attracted a good number of investors, people who also adhere to the provincial programs for tourism and agro-industry, which protects and sustains our vision for Bohol, he added.
Here, tourism has helped people find jobs and livelihood.
According to him, “livelihood and other productive activities now keeping the people busy has helped Bohol rid of insurgency, because tourism means jobs.”
Durano intentionally came to meet Bohol’s Grass Roots Entrepreneurship and Employment in Tourism (GREET) grantees and also tested the Ecological Adventure Tourism (EAT) in Danao, through a trekking, kayaking and traversing the famous Wahig River.
The experience also gave him a front seat on the community who has united to package a tour attraction that boasts of their natural resources: in Magtangtang, its pristine, historic and natural landscape which affords a tourist an exhilarating outdoor and extreme adventure sports.
The DOT, through Durano has granted Cantubod Association for the Rehabilitation of the Environment (CARE) 4 sets of river kayaks with complete accessories to allow the tourists to experience the navigable portions of the Wahig, Bohol’s longest river.
As long as the people keep eco-tourism in their efforts, Bohol would still continue to rack in the profits, one that would also help its people attain a life that were not as viable then, a tourism stakeholder also shared. (rachiu/PIA)
