Symposium on Green Tourism at UPLBCA’s AgriPark
Yesterday, I attended a symposium on green tourism at the UPLB-CA Agripark. This symposium was part of the week-long celebrations for the Founding Anniversary of the UPCA (now the UPLB). The symposium speaker was a good friend, Prof. Roberto Cereno (Robbie to friends), today’s acknowledged eco-tourism expert of UPLB. He spoke on a relatively new concept called Green Tourism.
Admittedly, tourism is today’s world’s main employer because 10% of world employment is in tourism, Robbie says. Well, 75M jobs are directly related and 210M indirectly related to tourism simply means substantial, however one looks at it.
In the Philippines, Robbie says, tourism in the past leaned heavily on the 5S of tourism: sun, sand, sea, sex, and San Miguel. When former Senator Dick Gordon served as Tourism Secretary in the beginning of the 2000 decade, WOW Philippines became the slogan of tourism and Philippine Tourism was made to heavily lean on the 5Fs of tourism: forests, farms, fishes, food, and festivals. In other words, these became the tourist attractions of the Philippines, capitalizing on the virgin forests of Palawan and other places (really, not many places anymore), the Banawe Rice Terraces, butanding, dolphins, and coral reefs, Filipino dishes, and the endless festival celebrations.
Traditional tourism became a collection of sub-tourism themes, hence, we now have medical tourism, spa and wellness tourism, eco-tourism, science tourism, and even voluntourism (a concept where tourists visit a country and volunteer to do some work towards preservation of culture, etc. Now, we’re into Green Tourism.
My friend Robbie went through the pains of conceptualizing what Green Tourism is. He says that any green tourism program must highlight the significance of visitor enjoyment, economic benefits accruing to community people, promote education and awareness of environmental concerns, which all lead towards heritage conservation, one that focuses on the preservation of our cultural heritage.
To achieve these, Robbie told his audience, a Green Tourism program must have the following components: attraction (whether natural like Mt. Makiling or man-made like Enchanted Kingdom), activities (like mountain trekking or birding – which used to be known as bird-watching), accommodations (plenty of hotels and inns, including home stays, and B&Bs), amenities (communication connectivity), and access (very good transportation system).
A tourism sector that’s becoming more significant is what Robbie calls the “week-end get away” sector or market, comprised on the young professionals we call today as yuppies and the DINKYs. This acronym refers to the “double-income-no-kids-yet” market.
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I must tell you a bit about the UPLB-CA Agripark. This little place is really an area alongside experimental paddies near the IPB at UPLB, where seminars and symposia are usually undertaken. It’s a place where faculty members may go have cups of coffee and see exhibits about agricultural technologies developed at UPLB-CA. As a watering hole, it’s really out-of-the-way. Too far off the busy areas like Grove. But going there now and then is refreshing and educational. There are displays there of sample veggies grown through hydroponics, displays of food products, and even publications. I understand it’s always part of “lakbay-aral” trips among LGU visitors from all over the Philippines to pay a visit to the UPLB-CA Agripark.
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UPOU Exhibits and Service Awards Ceremonies
Talking of exhibits, during the week as well, UPOU also has exhibits in relation to the celebration of the International Year of the Forests. There are, at UPOU’s Centennial Center for Digital Learning (CCDL), displays showing products made of bamboo materials, souvenirs, publications, etc. The participation of the UPOU in the celebration of the International Year of the Forests is facilitated by the Faculty of Management and Development Studies headed by Dean Jun Buot, precisely because the FMDS offers two degree programs in environmental management, the Diploma and Master in Environment and Natural Resources Management. (DENRM and MENRM).
While we’re at it, now is as good as anytime in informing our readers that Philippine Vice President Jejomar Binay completed UPOU’s Diploma in Environment and Natural Resources Management degree program. He graduated a couple of years back, while he was still mayor of Makati. Today, Sen. Migz Zubiri is enrolled UPOU’s MENRM, and was even present during the tree-planting ceremonies at the UPOU grounds yesterday.
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Just this morning, UPOU recognized the institutional loyalty of faculty and staff who have been with the institution for the last 5, 10, and 15 years. I happen to be one of those who’ve been with the UPOU in the last 10 years. Well, that’s only partly correct. I transferred to the UPOU completely in 2001 (that’s why I’m considered a decade old at UPOU), but I started working toward the establishment of the UPOU way ahead of time, beginning with being member of the Management Committee that overlooked the implementation of UPLB’s Science Teaching Using Distance Instruction (STUDI) as early as the late 1980s. So I’ve been in this for a long, long time now.
Earlier in the day at 6:00 a.m., UPOU officials, faculty and staff, as well as UPOU Guests, participated in a 3K fun run. Photo (above) shows the group in warm-up exercises supervised by a faculty member from the UPLB Kinetics Department. Then, UPOU staff proceeded to Tai Ichi session at the CCDL.
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To Pursue Another Ground-Breaking Program
Here’s a program idea that could become very interesting. During lunch this noon (March 4th) after the UPOU Service Awards program at the CCDL, I joined the table of Chancellor Gigi Alfonso, together with Vice Chancellor Mendie Lumanta, UPOU Registrar Bagi Bagarinao, and OASIS Director Jean Saludadez. While finishing our lunch, we talked about the possibilities regarding a program on wellness, which is one of the themes of this week’s celebration.
My simple suggestion was to conceptualize a wholistic wellness program based on a strong foundation in eastern philosophy, and embodying traditional Filipino values, ethics, and concern for natural law – which is the basis for the traditional hilot, a system of wellness and understanding of one’s relation with one’s natural and spiritual environment. The Chancellor is convinced that this was worth pursuing. I made it known that I would certainly be glad to be included in a small group to conceptualize such as program that could be delivered online by the UPOU. Such a program would embrace the Filipino psche, and it’s going to be a wholistic program.
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