As the municipality of Argao marks its 400th anniversary this September, it projects an overspill of visitors as it expects an influx of Argawanon balikbayans as well as foreign and domestic tourists to gather during the celebration.
Argao tourism officer Alex Gonzales said that with the intensity of their promotional efforts for the 400th year celebration of the town, they are expecting to gather visitors that is more than their expected number.
With this, he shared that they have already arranged with their neighboring towns to provide the influx of tourists in Argao with comfortable accommodation during the entire festivity.
Among Argao’s major activities during the anniversary celebration include their annual Pitlagong festival, the festival of lights and Comparza, which will celebrate different eras of the town, torta and tuba contest, Garbo 400 walk of fame and the launching of Argao’s coffee table book and the genealogy of Argawanon families, said Gonzales during the opening of their photo and arts exhibit at the SM arts center.
Gonzales shared that in regular days, Argao is already attracting many tourists not only with its rich history, culture and arts as well its offering of adventure tourism-related activities such as caving.
He said that their caving tours have already attracted many Korean tourists and at the same time provided work to locals in the area.
“The income of this tourism activity is given back to the local stakeholders such as the habal-habal drivers, dive masters and instructors, among others. We want it to become a community-base tourism endeavor so that the income will go directly to the community and their families,” said Gonzales.
He said that their tourism endeavor is slowly peaking up as now they are starting to get many interested investors and most of their tourism sites are having increased visitors throughout these times.
Gonzales cited that their public beach is now generating a million peso gross income as of January 2008 oppose from about three to four years ago which only generated half of this number.
Among the many segments of tourism, Gonzales said that they are trying to focus on adventure tourism more because they have many things to offer the adventurous tourists.
But because the LGU is determined to ensure the safety and security of each visitor, Argao does not allow tour groups without accredited local guides to enter their caves to avoid possible accidents that can destroy the reputation of the municipality to tourists.
Right now, the municipality is training volunteer guides for disaster preparedness so they can handle emergency situations if necessary.
In terms of accreditation, the town also made their own set of guidelines and accreditation scheme which is different from the Department of Tourism accreditation process to ensure that their volunteers also reach a certain level of professionalism in handling visitors.
The town of Argao is already considered as a second class municipality and is located at the Southern part of the province.
It has been founded as a town in 1608 as a fishing and farming town that has now become one of Cebu’s major tourism destinations as it offers several historical sites and it showcases a local culture rich in history and tradition.