Loboc, Bohol gathers sectors to draft tourism standards

LOBOC officials now eye a standard for its eco-tourism in community based based river cruises.

To attain just that, officials put on a multi-stakeholder forum to protect its people’s venture during a review and formulation workshop, March 10 at the Loboc tourism complex.

Here, government agency representatives, tour operators, drivers, tour guides and floating restaurant operators rolled sleeves with local government unit officials and legislators to come up with a foundation of a unified set of rules to be implemented in the cruises, says Councilor Melquiades Corona Jr, during the workshop.

Corona sits as the Sangguniang Bayan (SB) Tourism Committee chair.

It’s laborious, but that is the only way we can make this sustainable, Corona added, after a forum that lasted almost midnight.

Earlier, Loboc mayor Leon Calipusan has cited the need to elevate the operations of the river cruises including its accompanying ventures to meet acceptable standards in international tourism.

While they see the a bright eco-tourism venture, officials say it is their responsibility sustain the project and safeguard its people and the environment, which they consider as their biggest capital.

“The only way we can do this is to find ways to involve everyone’s good idea to keep the whole river cruise package come up with standards that we can execute, according to Calipusan.

“The workshop outputs would be validated in consultations with the community and the tourism stakeholders to formally agree on a standard for the operation of the accompanying tourism enterprises involved in the venture,” the mayor said.

The validated outputs would constitute the backbone of a local ordinance that would institutionalize measures in operating the river cruises, Corona explained.

By putting up a standard, at least we put our cruises at least on minimum standard with the demands of international tourism and allow us to compete in the global tourism market, agrees Bohol Tourism Officer Oroncia Balio.

Upon the invitation, a city-based tour operator said it’s about time that local officials move in because one negative incident involving tourism in Loboc and everybody would lose.

Part of the discussed areas for legislative spine is the environment preservation especially in the river use, river safety measures, navigational speed limits, floating restaurants’ on-board operational standards, food handling and tourism facility use.