PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, Palawan (PIA) — The tourism department sees making Kalayaan town a special zone for tourism as the future of its continuous effort to upgrade the tourism product of the town despite growing tension in the West Philippine Sea (WPS).
Department of Tourism (DOT) Mimaropa Regional Director Roberto Alabado III said that tourism in town could be similar to Tubbataha Reef. The Department is now equipping the community to accept guests, such as through a homestay program.
In 2023, the local government unit (LGU) of Kalayaan, through its tourism office, launched adventure tourism to boost the local economy and elevate the municipality from fifth to fourth class.
“Sa totoo lang, ang Pag-asa island especially, ‘yon lang talaga ang pinupuntahan ng mga turista. Sa ibang claimants dyan, tayo makakapagsabi na meron tayong local na pamahalaan don. At the same time, the Department of Tourism ay tumutulong sa paghahanda ng mga community doon sa area para tumanggap ng turista,” Alabado said.
The DOT has already given the Filipino Brand of Service Excellence (FBSE) training to the community, which is a flagship program to provide the frontliners in the tourism and hospitality industries with a benchmark for rendering excellent service to guests.
The training also includes assisting the community to be equipped with the skills for food preparation in a safe and sanitized way.
“The Department of Tourism has a program to help the local government there upgrade the standard in tourism and, in the near future, market it as one of the special destinations na pwede puntahan ng mga turista. Parang sa Tubbataha, pwede ka lang pumunta sa Tubbataha na apat na buwan lang sa isang taon,” he said.
It can be recalled that the Kalayaan Islands Tourism Agents Cooperative hosted an expedition dubbed “The Great Kalayaan Expedition,” which brought 32 individuals to the islands of Lawak, Patag, Likas, and Pag-asa in 2023.
Kalayaan Tourism Officer Ken Hupanda said that the decision to grow their tourist industry is evidence that the WPS is a territory that belongs to the Philippines and is part of the “soft protest” in 2023. (RG/PIA MIMAROPA-Palawan)
