The unbeaten path

One of President J. F. Kennedy’s favorite poets, Robert Frost, who delivered a poem during JFK’s inauguration, wrote these lastthree lines in his poem, The Road Not Taken:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—   

I took the one less traveled by,      

And that has made all the difference.

At least once in our lifetime, we are faced with a dilemma. This holds true not only for our own personal paths, but also for organizations – public or private – that we are a part of.

For many local government units that are yet to break out of the trap of perennial dependency on the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA), the decision on which strategic directions to take couldn’t be more crucial.

One strategy that has emerged and continues to gain adherents is tourism.

There is an abundance of literature that provides empirical evidence that tourism has positive economic impact in poor communities. In the 2006 briefing paper for the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), J. Mitchell and C. Ashley reported that the most important pro-poor benefit of tourism is the local employment it generates in the community. Also, compared to other service industries, tourism favors the marginalized sector as it provides a higher proportion of jobs to women workers.

The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), in its “Sustainable Tourism Development Guidebook: Enhancing capacities for sustainable tourism development fin developing countries” cited three major conclusions concerning tourism and its potentials to reduce poverty:

1. Tourism is one of the most dynamic sectors in many countries because of the wide range of upstream and downstream economic activities due to a very large and highly diversified supply chain;
2. Tourist movements to developing and least developed countries are growing faster than in developed countries;
3. In many developing and least developed countries, tourism is one of the principal sources of foreign exchange earnings. Tourism is often the most viable and sustainable economic development option with positive impacts on poverty reduction.

Aside from employment and income-generating activities, tourism also spurs infrastructure development in less developed areas with strong potentials for tourism. This is one of the reasons for the convergence program of the Department of Tourism (DOT) and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH). The program provides for the funding of the construction of roads leading to tourist destinations. The Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA) also allocates 5 percent of its share from travel tax for infrastructure projects in depressed areas with bright prospects for tourism.On the average, this amounts to P80 million per year. This is aside from the funds that TIEZA provides for worthy tourism infrastructure projects proposed by local government units (LGUs).

A number of LGUs own success tourism stories. But one that never ceases to fascinate me is that of Donsol, Sorsogon When a big group of whale sharks (butanding) was sighted in the waters of Donsol, the news caught the attention of tourists as well as shark traders. To protect the whale sharks, which are considered the world’s largest living fish, the local government passed an ordinance declaring its waters a sanctuary for the sharks from traders. The Department of Agriculture also issued an administrative banning the fishing and trading of whale sharks in the country.

While Donsol had no experience in tourism, the local government coordinated with private and government agencies to protect the butandings. The WWF Philippines extended assistance, andthe UN Development Programme (UNDP) supported the implementation of the Butanding Ecotourism Development Project. This resulted in the establishment of a community-based ecotourism program that from 2000 to 2003 attracted about 6,000 tourists, generating revenues for the local government of Donsol, and enabling local residents to earn from boat rentals and guide fees.

The Donsol whale shark ecotourism has become the prime tourist destination for Region V. It was given the Kalakbay Award for the best ecotourism destination for 2003. Time magazine cited Donsol as the best destination for an animal encounter in Asia in 2004.

Similar success stories, like the Loboc river cruise in Bohol show how local governments – by protecting and enhancing their natural resources – could eventually integrate tourism as part of their strategic development plans.

LGUs who fear to tread into the unknown may draw inspiration from Donsol and Loboc and venture into what to them remains an unbeaten path: community-based tourism.

This Sponsored Article is a Public Service Announcement from TIEZA COO Mark Lapid.