DONSOL, Sorsogon -- Amidst the noise in the national political scene, Tourism Secretary Ace Durano launched early this week in this coastal town the Turismo Mismo program as key to better life.

Caption: TOURISM Secretary Ace Durano taps Donsol fishermen as warriors and guardians of the waters where Butandings thrive. RHAYDZ B. BARCIA

        “Our message to them is “Turismo Mismo” (TM) -- tourism is the key to a better life, not the other “isms”, Durano said referring to actors in the armed conflict obtaining in the countryside.

        “Townsfolk in rural areas are prone to experiment on empty promises of the different ideologies in their search for answers to a better life; so they become easy prey to community organizers of different fronts for communism, socialism and other isms but eventually end up hard-pressed in a worse situation,” Durano said.

        To help combat poverty, the Department of Tourism launched the TM program, an advocacy that underscores the role of tourism in uplifting the lives of the local communities in poverty stricken areas of the countryside particularly the Bicol region.

        The GREET (or grassroots entrepreneurship and employment for tourism) and TM are twin programs of the DOT that seek to enhance livelihood opportunities among micro-entrepreneurs in the tourism industry while advocating environmentally sustainable and socially equitable practices in local communities like this town which has been labelled as the world’s whale shark capital and one of the best ecotourism destinations in the country.

        At least 60 persons, some of them former members of the New People’s Army who have returned to the fold of law underwent livelihood training under the Turismo Mismo program.

        Some of these former rebel guerillas are now helping Tourism regional Director Maria ‘Nini’ Ong-Ravanilla enhance the development of tourism prospects in this town.

        Ravanilla said that tourism development encourages comrades in the mountains to go down.

        She believed that more NPAs would give up their guns and return to the government once the economy improved with tourism development as contributor to local progress.

        Alejandro Trinidad, 30, boat captain operator of Tinanogon village this town told Bicol Mail that the TM program helps them boost their income through livelihood training and assistance. “This is a very big help to us,” he said.

        Durano had extended financial assistance to the Butanding Boat Owners Association to help them upgrade boat facilities with reliable features to ensure the safety and convenience of tourists, foreign and domestic, who come here for butanding interaction.

        Donsol is home of world’s giant and most friendly fish, butanding. It also boasts of vast mangrove forests providing habitat for diverse collection of swamp species like the fireflies which have made the mangroves their home.

        At night, fireflies illuminate the mangrove line to the fascination of tourists and visitors.

        Durano said the DOT program would encourage the people of the local communities, the communities to serve as guardians of their own environment from degradation and illegal fishing.

        “Donsol is ranked first as a favorite ecotourism destination in the country, so the service providers (the people) here should be given proper training as protectors of our country’s natural assets and attractions,” he said.

        He explained that “in the Philippines, the sustainability of ecotourism is endangered by local communities who are largely dependent on illegal fishing and logging and other acts of environmental degradation for their hand-to-mouth existence and survival.

        One solution, he said, to this serious problem is to make eco-tourism as a productive alternative to destructive sources of livelihood, the tourism secretary said.

        “The first step is to level the playing field by giving the communities easy access to skills, capital, market opportunities and values formation,” Durano added.

        Donsol is the pilot area of DOT’s TM program to maintain balance between embracing progress and preserving its heritage while similar program will be done in other regions.

        Last year, the DOT posted at least $4.8 billion income from visiting tourists.

        Durano said that this year his office is targeting additional $1 billion income with the 14 percent average growth rate in tourist arrivals.

        “Assuming the US economy continues to plunge, we can still look up to a very good year for tourism because we are third to Singapore and Thailand (in Southeast Asia) despite the fact that our country had smaller budget for tourism promotion compared to the two other Asean countries,” the secretary said, attributing the improvement to the support and cooperation being extended by various stakeholders, including the local communities that play host to the tourists.

        Durano also lauded the local officials in Bicol region specifically Govs. Luis Raymund Villafuerte of Camarines Sur and Joey Salceda of Albay for aggressively investing in and promoting tourism in their respective areas of jurisdiction.

        “The Bicol region is among the top three ecotourism destinations in the country because of your unique biodiversity,” he said.

        Among the top tourist destinations in the region were Donsol, the Camarines Sur Water Sports Complex, Misibis Resort in Cagraray Island, Bacacay town in Albay and other tourist spots in Legazpi City.