THE DEPARTMENT of Tourism (DOT) will be launching this April its Green Corridor Initiative (GCI) in a bid to reopen Region 4-A (Calabarzon) to domestic tourism, and help its local tourism enterprises recover lost business due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The creation of travel corridors has been a key component in the resumption of tourism in some of the country’s destinations. We are confident that the same principle can be applied in Laguna,” said Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo Puyat, as she visited the province on February 1 and 2.
Laguna accounted for 11 percent or 1.27 million of the same-day arrivals in the Calabarzon in 2020, estimated at 11.54 million. Laguna also accounted for 22 percent or 207,559 in overnight tourism arrivals of the region in 2020, which reached 943,450. Other provinces in the region include Cavite, Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon.
In Laguna, Romulo Puyat spearheaded the validation of the Dona Leonila Park at Sampaloc Lake and Casa San Pablo, under the proposed Laguna tourism circuit of the GCI along with Tayak Nature, Adventure and Wildlife (Tanaw) Park in Rizal, the Nagcarlan Underground Cemetery, and the demonstration of making native tsinelas (slippers) in Liliw.
“Laguna is blessed to have many open-air, nature and culture-based tourism products that Filipinos would like to experience when traveling amid the pandemic,” she added. “And best of all, Laguna can be accessed quickly and conveniently from Metro Manila through land travel, which is the most ideal way for Filipinos to travel in the current situation. There is great potential for the tourism sector in this province to rebound and recover,” she noted.
The operational guidelines for the GCI are still being finalized, guided by the standards laid out in the National Tourism Development Plan 2016–2022 and the Tourism Rapid Assessment scheme.
Local government units of Laguna have already issued a resolution affirming the province’s participation in the GCI project, which calls for their establishment of Green Corridor Task Force (CGTF) to oversee the operations and management of the travel clusters. The GCTF will be composed of the provincial, municipal, and city tourism officers of the clustered destinations, under the guidance of the DOT-Region 4A.
The development of green corridors play an important role in maintaining regional biodiversity, improving environmental quality, offering economic resilience opportunities, protecting heritage and culture, and supporting the jumpstart of the economy to restart tourism activities in the new normal.
Under the GCI, a QR-coded Green Card for pre-registration procedures and cashless transactions in tourism establishments will be issued. A portion of the fees paid to purchase the Green Card will be allocated to health insurance with Covid-19 emergency medical response services.
“The technology will be able to assess the carrying capacity of identified tourism sites and attractions. In effect, domestic tourists will easily be informed about tourist flows using this digital platform, which will alert them whenever the chosen tourism site is already available to accept tourists,” the DOT chief said in a news statement.
Aside from the GCI, the DOT has been collaborating with the region’s LGUs on product development and enhancement centered on farm, culinary, ecotourism, nature, and adventure; new normal marketing campaigns; provision of capacity building programs; and the strict implementation of the minimum health and safety protocols.
As of 28 January, DOT reported to have accredited 1,489 accommodation establishments in the region, 871 of which are in Laguna.
Also, a total of 11,670 beneficiaries Laguna have received some P58.35 million in cash assistance under the Bayanihan 2 partnership between the Department of Labor and Employment and the DOT.
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