Chiz Escudero

Eco-tourism should be made the country’s main attraction, because such a program could result in two things: protection of the environment and creation of livelihood.

The country abounds with natural beauties, but they remain relatively unknown to the outside world. The best way to protect them is to give local inhabitants a stake on them, as people who derive livelihood from nature are more likely to take the initiative to protect and conserve it.

I agree with the suggestion that the Department of Tourism (DoT) rationalize eco-tourism activities. But care must be taken to ensure that people who initially provided the services when tourists first discovered what the town had to offer are not left out in the scramble for a share of tourist receipts.

The government could perhaps form the small cottage owners into a cooperative for the purpose of building hotels and other establishments that would cater to a large number of tourists.

Local governments could take a lesson from the experience of Donsol, Sorsogon, which progressed from a sixth- to third-class municipality in eight years, because of the pod of whale sharks [butanding in the local dialect] converging in the bay.

The spectacle draws a continuous stream of tourists both foreign and local. Now the town is offering another attraction. As it turned out, the river that leads to the bay is lined with trees that erupt with thousands, even millions of fireflies at nightfall.

It was my father, Salvador Escudero III, who as secretary of Agriculture signed Fisheries Administrative Order 193 in March 1998, making it unlawful to catch whale sharks and manta rays.

I acknowledge that tourists coming in droves could strain the capacity of the local government to provide sanitation and other services. Thus I suggest that the tourism department look closely into the matter and put the necessary program in place.

The mere presence of man creates a negative effect on the environment. It is our responsibility to keep the disturbance to the barest minimum.

DOT is projecting more than three million tourists will visit the country this year. Record shows more half a million foreigners visited the country in the first two months of the year, with   East Asia—Korea, Japan, China, Taiwan and Hong Kong—and the United States accounting for close to 80 percent of the total.

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