23 August 2000The World Tourism Organisation has cited a low impact, community-spirited Mt Pinatubo tourism project for using tourism as a tool for environmental protection, cultural preservation, community empowerment and economic development, said Philippines Department of Tourism Region 3 director Ronaldo Tuotuico.
The tourism body said it chose to showcase the Mt Pinatubo project because of its sustainable tourism methods.
About 100 indigenous and non-indigenous people make a living by guiding the 1,200 monthly foreign and local tourists on their way up to the crater of Mt. Pinatubo.
Twenty households in the community make money by opening their homes through the Homestay Programme and 60 residents have been trained on butterfly farming and bamboo craft.
Revenues from the tourism projects have been put back into the community in the form of a new Mt Pinatubo photo museum, new streetlights, new public toilets and the recent introduction of a computer education and literacy program for in-school and out-of-school youth.
The only other project given similar recognition this year is the Noslek Arbor Canopy Walk in Northern Mindanao (Region 10) led by regional director Dorothy Jean Pabayo.