Mr. Rommel E. Maningas, aged 31, is the designated tourism officer for Los Baños, Laguna. The nature-based tourism in Los Baños focuses on ecotourism and sustainability. It considers five principles: visitor enjoyment, economic benefit, stakeholder engagement, conservation education, and environmental protection. Los Baños is committed to protecting the environment through ordinances on waste management and plastic bags. It also levies ecological fees for tourism sites to fund environmental programs. Major nature attractions that draw tourists include the Makiling Botanic Gardens, Museum of Natural History, Mud Spring, and Tadlac Lake.
Mr. Rommel E. Maningas, aged 31, is the designated tourism officer for Los Baños, Laguna. The nature-based tourism in Los Baños focuses on ecotourism and sustainability. It considers five principles: visitor enjoyment, economic benefit, stakeholder engagement, conservation education, and environmental protection. Los Baños is committed to protecting the environment through ordinances on waste management and plastic bags. It also levies ecological fees for tourism sites to fund environmental programs. Major nature attractions that draw tourists include the Makiling Botanic Gardens, Museum of Natural History, Mud Spring, and Tadlac Lake.
Mr. Rommel E. Maningas, aged 31, is the designated tourism officer for Los Baños, Laguna. The nature-based tourism in Los Baños focuses on ecotourism and sustainability. It considers five principles: visitor enjoyment, economic benefit, stakeholder engagement, conservation education, and environmental protection. Los Baños is committed to protecting the environment through ordinances on waste management and plastic bags. It also levies ecological fees for tourism sites to fund environmental programs. Major nature attractions that draw tourists include the Makiling Botanic Gardens, Museum of Natural History, Mud Spring, and Tadlac Lake.
Mr. Rommel E. Maningas, aged 31, is the designated tourism officer for Los Baños, Laguna. The nature-based tourism in Los Baños focuses on ecotourism and sustainability. It considers five principles: visitor enjoyment, economic benefit, stakeholder engagement, conservation education, and environmental protection. Los Baños is committed to protecting the environment through ordinances on waste management and plastic bags. It also levies ecological fees for tourism sites to fund environmental programs. Major nature attractions that draw tourists include the Makiling Botanic Gardens, Museum of Natural History, Mud Spring, and Tadlac Lake.
Basically, the nature-based tourism in Los Baos focuses on ecotourism
which is the integration of responsibility, research and appreciation with enjoyment and leisure. Tourism stakeholders in Los Baos also consider the tenets or principles of sustainable tourism. As stated in a lecture of For. Roberto P. Cereno (Director of UPLB-TREES), there are five (5) doctrines of sustainable tourism namely: (1) Visitor Enjoyment, (2) Economic Benefit, (3) Stakeholder Engagement, (4) Conservation Education, (5) Environmental Protection.
The Municipal Government of Los Baos, being committed to its vision of
creating an eco-friendly science community crafts ordinances in accordance with national laws on environment protection and solid-waste management. Los Baos was the first town to impose the prohibition of use of plastic bags which brought to the reappearance of the dependable bayong and valuable community campaigns (i.e. Bring Your Own Bag). Recently, the Sangguniang Bayan drafted an ordinance on Tourism Ecological Fee which levies charges in nature-based tourism sites. The collected fees will be allocated to LGUs environmental programs. Other initiatives to protect the nature-based tourism is to implement low-carbon events and festivals (i.e. motorcade-free celebrations and reusing banners and tarpaulins).
Tourism trends indicate that travelers preferences are tilting to destinations
with more intact and natural ecosystems. A study in 2006 also showed the top 10 motivations of tourists visiting the Mt. Makiling, with hiking as the top 1 motivation garnering 60% of the responses. Los Baos is fortunate because it has both the lake and the mountain. Aside from the majestic Laguna Lake and the legendary Mt. Makiling, Los Baos also houses other nature-based tourism attractions, and these are the following, to name a few:
1. The Makiling Botanic Gardens was established in 1963 to support
instruction and research to forestry and plant sciences and to serve the tourism, educational, and recreational needs of the public. MBG includes a plantation of endemic and exotic trees, ornamentals and collections of orchids and rare flowers, birds and other wild animals. 2. The Museum of Natural History houses a diverse collection of more than 300,000 Philippine animals, plants, microorganisms. And other artifacts living plants. It can be seen in the hortorium near the bridge going up to the Forestry campus.
3. Mud Spring is known to be the main crater of Mt. Makiling with a
diameter of 10 meters. There are 8 new satellites with less than a meter each. It is a sulfurous pool of bubbling mud at an elevation of 350 meters above sea level.
4. Tadlac Lake is a lake contained in a raised circular shape with a
diameter of about 330 meters. It is believed to be the mouth of an extinct volcano that juts out of the Laguna Lake. Also called as Alligator Lake, the name was derived from the word itself because it looks like an alligators head from a height.
In general, below are the challenges and concerns that the nature-based tourism is facing:
1. Biodiversity loss 2. Natural ecosystem destruction 3. Global warming / Climate change 4. Increase in population 5. Occurrence of natural disasters
For. Roberto P. Cereno of UPLB-TREES also mentioned in his lecture the
potential benefits of nature-based tourism and environmental impacts. Nature-based tourism can diversify opportunities, bring economic incentives, educate the public, develop pride of place and preserve the natural and cultural heritage resources. However, if not managed well, the following can be considered as negative impacts of nature0based tourism: pollution, congestion and overcrowding, vandalism, destruction of flora and fauna, and degradation of landscapes.
To have a well-managed and sustainable nature-based tourism, tourism
stakeholders should work together particularly in the planning stage. The role of the government is to promote cooperation, enact legislation, provide training and monitoring. Meanwhile, the tourism industry which includes the business/private sector is responsible for responsible marketing. It is also vital the local producers of tourism related goods and services must use locally sources inputs. The community on the other hand is accountable for the intangible tourism experience of visitors brought by hospitality, safety, security and culture. The tourists as well are also given their own set of responsibility. Tourists and visitors shall follow the laws and regulations in a foreign area, respect the values, social norms and traditions and ensure that they are patronizing eco-friendly products and services. Lastly, the civil society including the media and academe shall recognize and campaign for responsible tourism.
