The Department of Tourism Regional has set its sights on the potential of Davao region’s waters for river cruise tourism.
In an interview with DOT XI Regional Director Roberto P. Alabado III on Tuesday, he bared that the Regional Office has gathered tourism and environment officers from the six provinces in the region in a consultation dubbed, “Department of Tourism Regional Consultation Workshop on Ilog Tourism” at Apo View Hotel.
The regional consultation aimed to “determine what rivers to enroll to assist them in developing such.”
The event also served as a “pre-feasibility study” wherein DOT will look at helping them in developing the plan to expand the benefits of tourism to the local tribes along the river such as conducting capability training to enhance areas such as culinary tourism, and product development of souvenir items.
Alabado said DOT-XI will replicate the Loboc River Cruise Tourism in Bohol but touched “with our special characteristics”.
Loboc River river cruise features a floating restaurant, the main activity that attracts both local and foreign tourists.
“We have our Lumads there and some Muslim tribes. So I expect the colors, the food and the culture so we can present our own version of river cruise that’s colorful,” said the regional director.
Aside from providing the local community with more market for their products Alabado added that office expects them to take part in maintaining the cleanliness of the rivers. This is by mitigating harmful practices such as improper waste management which will be monitored by provincial tourism officers.
“Once people could see the value of the river for tourism purposes, we expect them, the communities along the river to be more active in protecting and enhancing the rivers,” stressed Alabado.
The regional director said areas are yet to be identified but they are eyeing Tagum and Davao Oriental.
“We would like to model this first in one area then but it doesn’t mean that other areas or rivers cannot start their development of the cruise tourism. We will still assess on them but we will concentrate on one area that would have the highest potential on giving good experience to our tourists,” he said.
After selecting target areas, DOT will conduct an on-ground consultation with local government units and tribe leaders.
The river cruise tourism is one of the priority programs of Department of Tourism Central Office for the Duterte administration. Thus, Alabado said the development will begin after the series of consultations.
“We are asking them to give us proposal so we can choose who to prioritize for immediate support,” said Alabado.
According to Alabado, initially the target market for this river cruise project are domestic tourists.
