DOT eyes more farm tourism sites in Calabarzon

MANILA, Philippines — The Calabarzon unit of the Department of Tourism (DOT) plans to increase the number of accredited farm sites in the region in line with its push for sustainable tourism.

In an interview, newly appointed DOT Region IV-A director Jeff Ortega said farm tourism is one of the strengths of the region as it has the most number of accredited farm sites in the country at 31.

At present, there are a total of 174 accredited farm tourism sites across the country.

While noting they have no target of how many more accredited farm sites they plan to have by the end of the year, Ortega said they are working on benchmarking the industry.

“There’s no target since it’s a new industry, but what we’re trying to do is to make sure to see how much we can benchmark. Right now Calabarzon has the highest number in the entire country,” Ortega said.

“So we’re pushing how many more we can do (accreditation) until the end of this year,” he added.

Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat earlier said she expects the number of accredited farm tourism sites to continue to rise as the demand for “low-impact tourism” increases with the completion of the Farm Tourism Strategic Action Plan (FTSAP).

“Farm tourism capitalizes on two of our competitive advantages: agriculture, as 41.7 percent of the total land area in the country is devoted to farming as of 2016 according to the World Bank, employing 23.5 percent of the Filipino workforce (as of July 2019), and the world-renowned Filipino brand of hospitality that brought 7.1 million foreign visitors to the country last year,” Puyat said.

The DOT said it also targets to install a farm tourism development board this year along with the appointment of private sector representatives.  

“A national farm tourism association will likewise be organized to unify farm tourism establishment efforts in addressing issues and to facilitate implementation of the FTSAP,” the DOT said.

Puyat emphasized that farm tourism is a catalyst for sustainable tourism and inclusive development.

“We at the DOT are looking forward for farm tourism to serve as a catalyst for greater sustainability; we know that we can now pursue it properly, guided by the IRR. Farm tourism holds the promise of food sufficiency and additional income for our tourism stakeholders, including farmers, farm workers and fisherfolk.After all, gainful employment, enhanced productivity and sustainable livelihoods are what tourism is really all about,” Puyat said.

The DOT said the Farm Tourism Development Act of 2016 will provide the policy and enabling environment for the encouragement, development and promotion of farm tourism in the country; and recognize the importance of agriculture in making available food and other products necessary to sustain and enhance human life, and in providing livelihood to a major portion of the population.

Under the law, the DOT, the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) will work together to develop the local farm tourism industry, in a bid to raise the income of farmers and spur the growth of the agriculture sector in the country.

Moreover, apart from its focus on farm tourism, Ortega said the Calabarzon region is also targeting the rehabilitation of destinations such as Matabungkay Beach in Batangas.

Ortega said they have started talks with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) regarding the rehabilitation of the Batangas beach.

“For Matabungkay, we’re trying to restore it’s old glory because its a very popular beach place especially for families and vacation goers,”Ortega said.

Matabungkay Beach, known for its white sand, became a popular weekend destination starting the 1950s due to its proximity to Manila.

“Actually of this moment, this is only my first month (in office) and so far, we’ve engaged in several talks with a lot of regional offices concerned as well as the stakeholders,” he added.