The Queen City of the South takes center stage as the country’s leading farm tourism practitioners and stakeholders for the 6th Farm Tourism Conference set at the Marco Polo Plaza Hotel, Cebu City on Nov. 6 to 8.
Themed “Building Community Relationship for Sustainable Development of Farm Tourism,” the event is hosted by the City Government of Cebu, the confab is co-organized by the International School of Sustainable Tourism and the Cebu Alliance of Tour Operations Specialist Inc., with the support of the Department of Tourism, Department of Agriculture, and Department of Trade and Industry.
To deliver keynote messages are former president and House Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, Agriculture Secretary William Dar, and Senator Cynthia Villar, author of the Farm Tourism Development Act of 2016.
According to ISST president and event director Mina Gabor, the Conference will focus on the unique fusion of farming and tourism that helps empower local communities, provide diversified income for farmers, and encourage sustainable practices for food security.
“Farm Tourism attracts visitors and travelers to farm areas, generally for educational and recreational purposes that encourage economic activity to provide farm and community income. It is one of the country’s sunshine industries which can be developed because of the agricultural nature of the economy,” she said.
The former tourism chief pointed out that the conference will emphasize the vital role of strengthening communities in initiating and sustaining farm tourism efforts in the countryside.
Resource persons include ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity executive director Theresa Mundita Lim, Board of Landscape Architecture chairman Paolo Alcazaren, Arslan SRS Philippines chief executive officer Augustus Caesar Esmeralda;
Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture director Gil Saguiguit Jr., Parañaque City Mayor Edwin Olivarez, DownToEarth Farm Shop and Café president Nicolo Aberasturi, and Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources director Eduardo Gongona.
Meanwhile, Bolo Aloguinsan Ecotourism Association vice president Jomelyn Delos Reyes, and Cebu Pacific Director for Corporate Communications Charo Lagamon will talk on the importance of public-private partnerships.
Success stories in Asia will be shared by India’s Agri Tourism Development Company managing director Pandurang Taware, and Charinee Chaiyochlarb of Mini Murrah Farm in Thailand.
Gabor added that the event will accord the Lakbay Bukid Award or Farm Tourism Award to the country’s foremost farm tourism pioneers, practitioners, institutions and groups who have contributed significantly to the development of the industry.
Now on its third year, the award has been opened to Asian farm tourism establishments, the first of its kind in the continent.
Groups, individuals, and diplomatic missions can send their nominees to the ISST until October 18.
The three-day event will also have an exhibition area for fresh and locally-grown agricultural produce, and a site visit on the leading farm tourism spots, namely Sirao Flower Farm, Jaime Chua’s Orchid Farm, and Adlawon Vacation Farm.
Cebu City was chosen as the venue because of its strategic location in the southern Philippines and its farm tourism sites in the upland villages.