Search for best performing tourism-friendly LGU is on

Lingayen- - -The search for this year’s best performing tourism-friendly local government units in Pangasinan is on.

In a briefing workshop activity for the 2^nd Aktibo Ed Turismo Awards last September 17, Provincial Tourism and Cultural Affairs Office (PTCAO) chief Ma. Luisa A. Elduayan explained the criteria on how to join the tourism project attended by various tourism officers or representatives of different local government units (LGUs) in Pangasinan.

Elduayan disclosed that the project was conceptualized as incentives and tourism awards program that aim to give special recognition to Pangasinan’s partners who gave significant contributions to the development and promotion of tourism in the province.

The project, according to Elduayan, was expounded to include a greater scope that includes support to cultural and special events which the present administration under the stewardship of Gov. Amado T. Espino, Jr. started to intensify.

Meanwhile, the PTCAO chief explained the basis of the scorecard to be utilized in determining the top LGUs which will make it for this year’s Governor’s award for Pangasinan’s top performing tourism movers.

Elduayan enumerated the criteria which include the organizational support, LGU-initiated/funded programs and projects, cooperation and support to provincial government programs and special events, legislative support, linkaging, and various tourism-related awards and recognitions received.

As stated by the provincial tourism officer, the first criterion which has a percentage points of 10 % pertains to the presence of a tourism officer while the second criterion, which is equivalent to 40%, involves LGU-initiated or funded programs and projects include the infrastructure projects undertaken such as municipal or barangay improvements leading to tourist destinations, provision of public facilities, destination improvements and many others.

Promotional activities are likewise given weight under the second criterion as well as the conduct of trainings and education activities; presence of environmental protection projects; availability of One-Town-One-Product (OTOP); presence of historical, culture and arts projects and activities; presence of festivals and tourism month celebration activities.

The third criterion that is equivalent to 20% percentage points pertains to the cooperation and support to provincial government programs and special events while the fourth criterion, which is legislative support, is given a 15% rating.

Linkaging is another criterion set by the PTCAO to gauge the LGU’s tie-up with other line agencies. It is rated at 12%.

The remaining criterion, at 3% percentage rating, focuses on the various tourism-related awards and recognitions received recently by the participating LGU.

Prizes for this year are as follows: P200,000 (1^st), P150,000 (2^nd), P100,000 (3rd). Four finalists will be awarded P50,000 each while three special awards will receive P30,000 each.

Non-winners will be given an incentive of P10,000 each.

Preparation of entries is set from September 18 to October 16 while the deadline of submission is on October 20.

Review of entries and table validation is scheduled on October 21 to 24 to be followed by site validation and verification on October 27 to November 6.

Final review and evaluation will be conducted on the second week of November and the awarding ceremony is set on the second week of December.

Alaminos City was cited as top-performing tourism oriented LGU last year.  (Ruby R. Bernardino)