To attract more tourists and visitors, the Department of Tourism (DOT) will continue to accredit more farm sites to help the sector grow in terms of tourism.
In an interview, DOT Undersecretary Arturo Boncato stated that as mandated by the Farm Tourism Development Act, DOT will reach out to all organizations to help promote the country’s farm tourism and to tap more organizations to help tourism and supply ingredients, food, and even knowledge to tourism stakeholders.
DOT also aims to create more programs to help promote the increase of participation from other organizations, and it also vowed to organize more events for farm tourism.
At present, there are already more than 100 farm tourism sites in the country. Negros Occidental is a model for farm and food tourism, with the attractions and quality of food found in Bacolod City and other areas of the province [2].
Related News: San Carlos City tourists may decrease once coal-fired power plant pushed
Last year, the SMC Global Power Corporation proposed to develop a coal-fired power plant in San Carlos City, particularly in Barangays Punaw and Palampas which already expressed their openness through their resolutions to the City Council.
However, DOT Regional Director Helen Catalbas has said that when San Carlos City starts to host a coal energy generation plant, it may affect the tourism as well as the status of the city as a globally-recognized top sustainable tourism destination [3]. Catalbas stressed that DOT is not yet ready to make a definite position on the matter.
The northern-tip city of Negros Occidental was a recipient of the 2017 first ASEAN Clean Tourist City award. It bagged the award after complying with the requirements of the ASEAN Clean Tourist City Standard (ACTCS), which is designed to protect the environment and responds to the impacts of climate change and contributes to the sustainable development of ASEAN cities.