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Indeed, one of the things that make Batangas noteworthy is how it can be at par with other provinces in terms of tourism. With a booming tourism, jobs for the people are provided, businesses climbs along the growth ladder, and pride among the locals is ignited.
Branding and marketing makes one destination or attraction more appealing. But for natural attractions like what Batangas is abundant of, protecting these God-given gems has equal importance as that of any promotions rendered.
FAITH and the North Batangas Summit
The North Batangas Summit gathers people from the private sector, academe, business leaders, government officials, and city and provincial planners to put across and have deeper understanding of the issues in the region. The components of North Batangas are the cities of Lipa and Tanauan and the municipalities of Sto. Tomas, Talisay, Laurel, Malvar, Balete, and Mataasnakahoy.
This is a biennial summit launched in 2002 by the FAITH School of Management as supported by the Bato Balani Foundation Inc. Through the years, various groups from the public and private sectors have supported FAITH and its mission to bring together the components and present and propose development plans for the emerging Metropolitan Area of North Batangas.
Tourism and the Environment
The 7th North Batangas Summit focused in promoting and branding of Batangas tourism and trade. At the same time, vital points on protecting and preserving the nature were also given emphasis.
In his opening message, Mr. Saturnino G. Belen (President, FAITH) describes the summit as a visioning exercise to see where North Batangas is going. The emerging Metropolitan Area of North Batangas has the size of Metro Manila and Metro Manila has the size of Singapore. Mr. Belen emphasized that “the challenge for North Batangas is to have a better development plan than what is in Manila” and the aim is “to get closer to the planning goals of Singapore”.
As the connector road and extension of STAR Tollway poses threat to North Batangas, Mr. Belen shared that they look at it more as an opportunity than threat.
Hon. Mayor Carlito P. Reyes of Malvar then delivered his welcome remarks with highlights on Malvar’s tourism potentials. Malvar is home to Callejon Falls and Alulod River and the country’s 3rd world-class racing facility, Metro Manila Turf Club Racetrack.
Next on stage is Mr. Louie Mencias (Consultant, Bluewater Consultancy) who talked about Sustainable Tourism Master Planning and Environmental Education. He started his discussion with the two faces of tourism – threat and opportunity. It is an unfortunate truth that with growing tourism opportunities, threats to nature arise. “There is destruction. There is disturbance,” said Mencias.
He pointed out that environmental education is key to stop the threats. Mencias shared that what we can control and manage is the behaviour of the people. He furthered in discussing tourism master planning and ecotourism and their elements. The community and responsible visitors are the pillars of ecotourism, Mencias said.
In the middle of Mencias’ discussion, he described tourism as an experience – not a brochure, not an attraction, not a destination or a place. The realms of experience include entertainment, aesthetic, educational, and escapist.
To conclude his talk, Mencias conveyed that “we need to plan to protect our culture and nature”.
Up next is Ms. Cristina Tabora (Director, Marketing and Product Development of Green Initiative Movement, ABS-CBN Foundation) who talked about Managing Business Growth, Protecting the Environment. She presented the Green Initiative’s interventions carried out to and the developments made among various communities, which are in general, tourism-related. These community developments were done in Palawan, Mindoro, Marinduque, Sorsogon, Masbate, Sarangani, Koronadal, Romblon, and Zambales.
After the very smart and refined presentation of Ms. Tabora, came the hilarious speech from Hon. Mayor Antonio Halili of Tanauan City. Would want to insert LOL and ROFL emoticons to summarize what we experienced by listening to Mayor Halili’s speech but may we just remind you of the Parade of Lights happening on March 8 in Tanauan City. The event is part of the city’s tourism campaign included in the celebration of their cityhood anniversary.
Last but not the least is Batangas Vice Governor Mark Leviste who dissected Batangas Tourism: All Here, So Near! Vice Gov. Leviste shared that one way of enriching the lives of Batangueños is by attracting both foreign and local tourists to come and experience Batangas.
Like Mencias and Tabora, Leviste also put emphasis on environmental protection. “We give utmost importance in protecting our environment,” he told.
Leviste also showed how well-rounded the tourism of the province is by giving examples which can be found and/or experienced in Batangas for each of the tourism approaches – traditional, cultural, sports, fiesta, religious, culinary, arts and crafts, wellness, outdoor, and cultural tourism.
At the end of his talk, Leviste remarked that the main assets of Batangas tourism are accessibility and its beautiful people.
The second part of the summit delved on North Batangas updates. Ms. Rose Landicho, LIMA Park Hotel’s Marketing and Corporate Communication Director announced their upcoming events. Three events are set to transpire on the second week of February with Sing, Batangas! featuring the Philippine Madrigal Singers on February 8, and Karipasan 2014 and Waiter’s Race on February 9.
The 7th North Batangas Summit is co-presented by C.P. Reyes Hospital, First Philippine Industrial Park (FPIP), and LIMA Park Hotel with Science Park of the Philippines, Inc., City of Tanauan, Bangko Kabayan, and Smartprint Enterprise as sponsors.
