CALAMBA City, Laguna (PIA) — Aside from sustainable tourism, the Department of Tourism (DOT) in Calabarzon is eyeing to further promote educational tourism to enrich students’ knowledge and understanding of the country’s history and culture.
In an interview during the Kapihan sa Bagong Pilipinas, Marites T. Castro, Regional Director of DOT Calabarzon, stated that it is crucial to enhance the younger generation’s knowledge to instill the importance of history and culture, and to emphasize their significance in shaping our identity as Filipinos.
To achieve the goals of this initiative, Castro fully supports the implementation of educational tourism and encourages schools to prioritize educational school field trips where students can visit various cultural heritage sites, landmarks, and museums, instead of allocating time staying in commercial areas like malls.
“We, at the Department of Tourism, hope that through this edutourism initiative, we can enhance student awareness of our culture and history. We also aim for this effort to help the tourism industry thrive and make younger generations more informed,” Castro said.
She also expressed concerns regarding the commercialization of education, which may be seen as the cause of why some students lack awareness about our history and culture.
“Because education is now commercialized, the DOT hopes to bring back the old joy of learning—encouraging students to research more rather than just scrolling through their gadgets,” Castro added.
She reiterated that by collaborating with the Department of Education (DepEd) and the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) this will lead to fostering important values in younger generations including resilience, industriousness, and patriotism.
For this year, prioritizing edutourism is one of the strategic initiatives and programs that DOT Calabarzon will roll out in partnership with the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB), who have launched their edutourism program last 2023. (MM, CO; PIA-4A)
