Tabuk City tourism officer wins 2016 ATOP Awards

By Larry T. Lopez

TABUK CITY, Kalinga  – Tabuk City tourism officer Arlene Ethel Odiem   won  the 2016 “National most outstanding tourism officer award,” city category  given by Association of Tourism Officers of the Philippines (ATOP) recently.

Tabuk City Tourism Office also won “best tourism-event adventure and best practices on community-based responsible tourism campaign.

For tourism-event adventure, the city’s entry was “Naneng village community life tour adventure, a project jointly promoted by the city local government unit and  Department of Tourism wherein tourists and guests experience immersing into the village life of the Naneng community with their rituals, music, dances and ethnic cuisine.

On BPCRTC, the city’s entry was the institutionalized “Kumustahang turismo sa barangay”   to develop and increase grassroot awareness on tourism development.

Through this project, the city-LGU holds community-based consultations to gather people’s pulse and needs as basis to formulate responsive city tourism programs, Odiem said.

       Barangay tourism councils were organized and strengthened through seminar-workshops, tourism product development trainings, promotion of barangay festivals and exploration of other natural attractions.

The effort, Odiem said, contributed largely to tourism industry gaining headway in the city.

The ATOP Awards  is an annual search  done under the DOT’s National Pearl Award , which cites outstanding tourism officers and best tourism practices in the country through various tourism projects and innovations.