MikeLigalig.com

from Bohol Standard

By: Rey Anthony Chiu

Better understanding of eco-tourism and its diverse activities came to Batuan tourism stakeholders during a two-day Eco-tourism Orientation Seminar and Bohol Eco-Tourism Situationer workshop last February 20-21 at the Balay sa Humay.

Training coordinator Chona Digamon of the Batuan Colleges said the gab is part of the Japan International Cooperation Agency approved action plan she proposed during a 2010 Eco-Tourism Management Training held in different venues in Japan.

She said the training series she proposed centered on Human Resource Development includes a series of capacity and skills building workshops for local tourism stakeholders within the Batuan Tourism circuits.

Set in a place literally strewn with a generous amount of Chocolate Hills, “Batuanons and its tourism stakeholders have been hearing the term eco-tourism, but most of them do not really understand the complexity of the term and its underlying philosophy, the outspoken Digamon admits.

The training inputs include Carlos M. Libosada’s Ecotourism in the Philippines, the Making of Bohol as a prime Eco-tourism Destination with a strong agro-industry, as presented by Philippine Information Agency in Bohol.

The training also immersed the local stakeholders in activities like identifying eco-tourism destinations in the province and then assessing their readiness to go full blast on eco-tourism.

Training participants for the two-day activity include 14 tourism officers, hotel and restaurant management students as well as the pool of local tour guides based at the Balay sa Humay rice boutique.

Balay sa Humay is part of a new eco-tourism product of Batuan which has attempted to open as a venue for tourist immersion into a rice-producing community.

The Batuan community life tour includes a guided tour at the Balay sa Humay: rice museum and a rice production walk at the ground floor of the Balay sa Humay Training Center.

Also integrated in the training is basic community tour-guiding where Philippine Information Agency shared inputs based on national standards.

Other relevant inputs were also given by Gaudencio Dumapias, ship captain and owner of a now emerging destination in town: the Shiphaus.

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