Bontoc Am-among Festival opens today

By Wabilyn Mana-od

BONTOC, Mountain Province  – This year’s edition of the Am-among Festival is set to formally open here tomorrow (Sept. 10) with Mayor PascualSacgaca giving emphasis on the theme “Surviving change through the promotion of Eco-Cultural Tourism.”

The festival is now on its 8^th year and is expected to attract many visitors due to many innovations and improvements introduced in connection with the present administration’s vision to make the capital town of Bontoc a favorite eco-cultural tourism destination.

The Bontoc tourism promotion website at http://bontoctourism.com has been launched to promote the event. The website is a joint project of the municipal government through the initiative of Sacgaca in partnership with the XIJEN College of Mountain Province.

The website project is designed to promote tourism industry of the municipality.

           

A report made by Web coordinator Joel Fagsao,  as of August, said there were 910 visitors; and more than 22,000 pages have been visited by local and foreign tourists. The website has 24 posts and 57 pages.

           

Visitors reportedly came from different parts of the world such as the Philippines, United States of America, Canada, Hong Kong, Great Britain, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Israel, and Germany. The record is based accordingly with the indicator being used in web programming.

           

Another innovation launched was the photo gallery which is an output and production of the photo documentation team authorized by the mayor to document all the existing, undiscovered, and hidden tourist attractions, natural wonders, and cultural heritage sites of the sixteen barangays of the municipality.

           

The photos shall preserved what is Bontoc today. The photo gallery shall be open until September 17, 2012.

           

A tourist information map had been also unveiled during the opening by Sacgaca with Board Member Salvador Dalang. The map shall serve as a directory to foreign and local tourist visiting the capital town.

           

The map is also an offshoot of the documentation committee showcasing pictures of different tourist attractions per barangay.    

           

Relative to the aim of the local government to make Bonotc as eco-cultural tourism, members and officers of the New Bontoc Eco-Tourism Council had been reorganized during a meeting conducted by the Mayor’s Office with the civic groups, national line agencies and department heads of the local government.

           

The members of the council take oath before board member and chairman on tourism and education Salvador K. Dalang during the opening of the Am-among 2012 emphasizing to do their duties and take part in the promotion of eco-tourism industry of the municipality.

           

Timely for the scheduled opening were visitors from the Trinity College of Asia under the College of Hospitability and Tourism Management who came along from Manila to mingle and experience the Bontoc way of life as a local tourist.

           

As requirement of their course they were sent by their professors to discover the wonders and tourist attractions of the municipality.