Cebu fishing village bags AsPac award for eco-tourism

MANILA, Philippines - An eco-tourism destination in Cebu recently bagged the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Tourism Inspire Awards for Best Community-Based Tourism Initiative after it showed excellent sustainable environmental and social impacts.

Bojo Aloguinsan Ecotourism Association, a fishing village in the municipality of Aloguinsan 60 kilometers west of Cebu City, is the first ecotourism destination in the province established in 2009.

“With this award, Cebu has shown its other side which is sustainable tourism. We are more than just the beaches and our history,” Bojo Aloguinsan executive consultant Joselito Costas said.

The local government unit invested P1 million to build the destination and return of investment (ROI) has reached P13 million. As of June 2015, the eco-tourism site has recorded 30,000 visits which are mainly domestic tourists.

“In eco-tourism, quantity doesn’t really matter; it’s the quality of the experience. We don’t want to oversell and to compromise the environmental integrity of the area,” he added.

Moreover, the project caught the attention of the provincial government of Cebu and planned to replicate the success and develop eight more eco-tourism destinations which are set to simultaneously open in April 2016 with a proposed P14 million budget.

The municipalities of Tabuelan, Asturias, Balamban, Tuburan, Pinamungahan, Alegria and Aloguinsan and the city of Toledo will soon offer similar products to conserve the environment and offer an alternative source of income to the people.

The western side of Cebu faces the Tañon Strait, a body of water that separates the islands of Cebu and Negros, the biggest marine protected area in the Philippines.