Tinglayan, Kalinga – After re-opening its doors to tourists last January, Tinglayan’s tourism sector shows recovery with 10,366 tourist arrivals, both local and foreign nationals from the beginning of the year to April.
The tourism industry in Tinglayan closed during the onset of the COVID-19 and had its dry-run in January for its formal re-opening on February 16.
The re-opening is a response to the clamour of tourists wanting to visit the country’s ‘oldest mambabatok,’ while the Buscalan locals had been requesting for the revival of their source of livelihood.
According to the Municipal Tourism Office’s data, the most visited tourism sites are Bugnay Chico River, Buscalan, Loccong, Butbut Proper and Ngibat Rice Terraces and the tattooing industry in Buscalan, particularly Apo Whang-od.
The data recorded showed that other sites explored include Tulgao Rice Terraces, Tulgao Hot Spring, Palang-ah Falls, Dananao Volcano and Dananao Rice Terraces.
Before reopening, thorough preparations were made by the municipal local government of Tinglayan, mandating its tourism stakeholders to comply with all government requirements such as vaccination, acquisition of sanitary permit, medical permit, fire safety inspection certificate, and the training of tour guides with the help of the Bureau of Fire Protection-Tinglayan and other offices.
Training of homestay operators
The local government said they will be training homestay operators this June. Currently, there are 42 homestays identified in the locality.
In a report of PIA Kalinga, Municipal Tourism Officer Johnny Tiggangay said that the locality’s peace and order programs are in place and there have been no major problems encountered.
This was attributed to the collaboration of the Philippine National Police, Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Bodong (Peacepact) system in guarding the safety and welfare of tourists.
Tiggangay disclosed that they did not organize any tourism task force since the “Umili” (Communities/villagers) are the task force themselves.
In connection to this development, Municipal Information Officer Larae Lactao in a separate interview said that the economic situation in Tinglayan particularly in Buscalan is getting better with the opening of its tourism industry.
“I can say na ang laki na ng improvement ngayon. Marami na ding mga tour guides at homestay owners ang nabuhayan ng loob,” Lactao stated.
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