Daanbantayan to transform Lake Lanao into a water theme park

Lake Lanao ,Daanbantayan FB photo /Jing Lavilles de Egurrola

Lake Lanao, one of the interesting areas in the northern town of Daanbantayan, will soon be developed into a tourism attraction.

Daanbantayan Mayor Vicente Loot said they planned to develop the area into a water theme park where there are activities that will engage tourists and convince them to stay in the town proper and not just in the more popular islands under the town’s jurisdiction.

He said the Department of Tourism (DOT) is in on the plan to develop Lake Lanao, which covers an areas of about 18 to 20 hectares.

The DOT has provided the local government with a P5 million budget as a start up fund for the tourism master plan for the lake.

“The perimeter as eco-tourism park, the adjoining lots as agri-tourism area,” said Loot, when asked to describe how they plan to develop the area.

In fact, he said they already have Japanese investors who are waiting to get a copy of the final master plan. These investors have expressed interest earlier to develop Lake Lanao into an eco- and agri-tourism project.

Loot said their target would be to start developing the area by next year. As of this year, he said they are focusing their efforts in making sure that the area is environmentally-safe and compliant with environmental laws.

Help from Capitol

The plan was welcomed by the Cebu Provincial Tourism Office (PTO), which also expressed willingness to help the local government unit of Daanbantayan in their plans to develop the area.

“We can help in baseline data gathering, social preparation, capacity-building of stakeholders including planning and product development,” said Cebu Provincial Tourism Officer Joselito “Boboi” Costas.

Costas admitted that he has not yet seen the area, citing the importance of local government units in looking for and developing their own areas for tourism.

He pointed out that tourism development has also become a function of local government units (LGUs) under Republic Act 9593 or the Tourism Act of 2009, which gives LGUs the responsibility of ensuring the preparation and implementation of their tourism development plans as long as they adopt sustainable tourism development.

DOT Central Visayas Regional Director Shalimar Tamano said he and other officials of DOT 7 are scheduled to visit the town later this month as part of their mobile accreditation caravan and would meet with Loot to discuss the development of Lake Lanao.

“We have noticed an increase in tourist visits in Daanbantayan in 2017. This is a good sign so we intend to provide support to them,” he said.

Most visited

Daanbantayan is the eight most visited local government unit in Central Visayas in 2017, with a total of 73,194 foreign tourists and 15,099 domestic tourists visiting the town, D0T 7 data showed.

Cebu City topped the list with 2.7 million tourist visits, followed by Lapu-Lapu City with 1.3 million. Other areas in the list are Panglao Island and Tagbilaran City, both in Bohol; Dumaguete City in Negros Oriental; and Santa Fe. on Bantayan Island in Cebu.

The DOT 7 mobile accreditation caravan is part of their efforts to register tour operators, resorts, and establishments as part of DOT 7’s list. They have done the mobile accreditation in Sta. Fe., and in the towns of Panglao and Dauis in Bohol.

“This is to ensure that resorts and establishments as well as services related to tourism are of DOT standards which is based on international standards,” Tamano explained.

Being accredited by the DOT 7 will also ensure that these establishments and operators are included in the DOT’s marketing blitzes in other parts of the country and abroad. / CNU Intern Lalaine M. Jurado