Bird watching, nature trekking; Alcoy getting P10M for eco-tourism

CEBU, Philippines — The Cebu provincial government is allocating P10 million next year for the development of Nug-as, Alcoy to help the community develop and boost its eco-tourism competence.

Vice Governor Agnes Magpale said the budget is for trainings, construction of a water system and comfort rooms, and road rehabilitation.

Alcoy, being one of the Capitol’s “Big 5” ecotourism sites, offers bird watching and nature trekking for tourists in Nug-as, whose forest is home to endemic and endangered species of birds like the Cebu Hawk Owl, Cebu Black Shama, and the Cebu Flowerpecker.

The Capitol intends to develop a sustainable tourism framework in the barangay following the model set by Aloguinsan, which was recently awarded as one of the world’s top 100 sustainable destinations because of its Bojo River Cruise.

The vice governor said the first step that the Cebu Provincial Tourism Office and the Alcoy Municipal Tourism Office are taking is social preparation.

This is to equip the locals with knowledge on what ethical criteria to observe when bringing tourists to the vicinity.

In addition, it is cultivating responsibility for the community to take care of their natural treasure and profiting without harming the ecosystem.

“Unahon ang training. Social preparation lang usa then the infra will follow,” she said.

Magpale said the Capitol is benchmarking on the Big 5 (Aloguinsan, Alcoy, Alegria, Argao, Boljoon) eco-tourism destinations in its aim to strengthen the communities.

When the five featured towns are already self-sustaining, Magpale said, the Capitol would then choose the next batch of Big 5 towns in the north.

Meanwhile, Magpale agreed with the Police Regional Office - 7 on its sentiment on the travel ban issued by other countries for the southern part of Cebu, namely the towns of Boljoon, Dalaguete, Samboan, and Oslob.

As reported, travel advisories were raised for tourists travelling from Australia, Canada, France, South Korea, New Zealand, United Kingdom, and United States due to terrorism threats in those areas early this year.

The vice governor concurred with the police that the southern towns are now safe and are ready to receive guests from all over the world. (FREEMAN)