TAGUM CITY, Davao del Norte, Oct. 9 (PNA) — Davao del Norte bagged second place in the Best Tourism Oriented Local Government Unit (LGU) category in the prestigious Pearl Awards.
The honor was given during the recently concluded 15th national convention of the Association of Tourism Officers of the Philippines or ATOP held in Bacolod City.
Davao Del Norte’s Tourism Office bested 32 other provinces, only surpassed by Negros Occidental in the finals, despite entering the competition only for the second time. Last year, the province ranked third during the finals.
The provinces were judged according to the tourism practices implemented in their locality. The panel was comprised of representatives from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, National Commission for Culture and the Arts, the House of Representatives, and the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City.
Davao del Norte Tourism Office Head Noel Daquioag believes that it is Davao Del Norte’s adherence to the National Tourism Development Plan or NTDP that gave it the edge against its competitors.
According to the NTDP crafted by the Department of Tourism, an LGU must focus on developing and promoting existing and new tourism sites, improving connectivity or access to tourism sites, and institutionalizing governance and human resources.
“Our logical framework in the tourism office is adapt the National Tourism Development Plan. That’s also a big pull for us that among the offices that competed we were the only ones who were clear cut in saying that our directions are in line and adapting really the national strategic directions”, Daquiaog said.
Davao del Norte has also formulated a Provincial Tourism Code to make it more competitive.
Daquioag is hopeful that Davao del Norte will remain to be a tough contender in the years to come.
“Negros Occidental is worth emulating. We are looking forward to finally or in the near future at least be at par with them as far as tourism development is concerned. Probably we can institutionalize our tourism office into a department and expand it to cultural affairs because this is all in the ambit of tourism development”, he said. (PNA)