The Highland Bloom and Ecotourism project of the Cebu City government kickstarts on May 11, 2021. | Delta Letigio
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Cebu City Tourism Commission is taking advantage of the current downtrend in the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases in the city as they relaunched the Highland Bloom and Ecotourism project on May 11, 2021.
The event signals the start of a campaign to revive the tourism industry in the city’s highlands with at least 10 barangays in participation including Busay, Tagbao, Malubog, Sirao, among others.
Lawyer Jocelyn Pesquera, the Tourism Commission chairperson said the project hopes to answer the demand of Cebuanos to find resorts and parks away from the urban areas and closer to nature.
It’s also a project that hopes to draw tourists, local and domestic, to the vast natural resources of the city’s mountain barangays.
“Nagclose baya sila (tourism sites) on January 2020 pa so dako gyod kaayo ilang losses. With this, hopefully makarecover na sila,” she said.
The project is participated by mostly private resorts, farms, and gardens but it also features barangay-based sites like the hiking trail in Barangay Tagbao.
The hiking trail in Tagbao or the Waterfall Catching trail will be partially opened to experienced hikers starting this month and then to the general public by January 2022.
Pesquera said they need some time to put up safety features in the trail to ensure the safety of beginner-hikers who want to go Waterfall Catching.
There will be coordination with the barangay as well to ensure that the residents will most benefit from the project.
For other barangays, private tourist sites will get a boost in their business with the aid of the government through coordination with tourist agencies based in the city.
“The ecotourism programs will be coordinated with the tourist agencies so that people can take packages and save money,” said Pesquera.
The Tourism Commission hopes that the project will bring attention to the hidden gems of Cebu City in its highlands, eventually reviving the industry that has greatly suffered through the pandemic.
/rcg