TABUK CITY, Kalinga – Tabuk City Tourism Officer Arlene Ethel Odiem won the 2016 National Most Outstanding Tourism Officer Award, City Category given by the Association of Tourism Officers of the Philippines (ATOP) recently.
The Tabuk City Tourism Office also won Best Tourism Event-Adventure and Best Practices on Community-Based Responsible Tourism Campaign.
For Tourism-event Adventure, the city’s entry was the Naneng Village Community Life Tour Adventure, a project jointly promoted by the city-local government unit and the Department of Tourism where tourists and guests experience immersing into the village life of the Naneng community with their rituals, music, dances and ethnic cuisine.
On Best Practices on Community-based Responsible Tourism Campaign, the city’s entry was the institutionalized ’Kumustahang Turismo sa Barangay’ to develop and increase grassroot awareness on tourism development.
Through this project, the city-LGU holds community-based consultations to gather people’s pulse and needs as basis to formulate responsive city tourism programs, Odiem said.
Barangay Tourism Councils were organized and strengthened through seminar-workshops, tourism product development trainings, promotion of barangay festivals and exploration of other natural attractions.
The effort, Odiem said, had contributed largely on why the tourism industry is gaining some headway in the city.
The ATOP Awards is an annual search done under the DOT’s National Pearl Award , which cites outstanding tourism officers and best tourism practices in the country through various tourism projects and innovations.**By Larry T. Lopez
