Visit Negros Occidental!

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Don Salvador Benedicto






It’s Visit Philippines Year 2015, and there are many things we can do around the island as suggested: First on the list is to learn a new dance suggesting tourist to visit places, experience festivals and its dances, perhaps in Negros you can take visitors to the towns of Don Salvador Benedicto for the upcoming Kali-Kalihan Festival, or the 13th Bulang-Bulang Festival on the 9th of February or better yet the City of Bago for the Babaylan Festival, the Salapan Festival of Pulupandan on February 15, or the  Pasundayag Festival in Valladolid on February 28. Second is to take a history lesson by visiting the Negros Museum and other  Cities like  Silay , Talisay and Bago.

Eli Sodusta of DOT
       
Louie Dormido and Tim Ticar at Mowgli's
 Third is to go sightseeing in the towns of Murcia, DS Benedicto, La Carlota, Kabankalan, Calatrava and San Carlos. Fourth is to make new friends, the Negrenses are friendly loving people. Fifth is to get the job done and never run out of things to do like join a fun run, marathon, triathlon, mountain bike or dive in the cool waters of Sipalay and Cauayan or simply swim and sun bath along the beaches of Hinobaan, Cadiz, Sagay & Escalante. The best part tho in every travel is to work on photo skills and be the main attraction , there are lots of places to work on selfies which is a hit in social media in terms of advertising attractions and destinations.
RC Beach Cadiz City

Balicaocao Eco Park Accommodation Facilities
Layda's Pension, Escalante
          Negros Occidental is second to Aklan in terms of tourist arrivals, recently the Department of Tourism has released 2014 partial tourist arrival data for Negros Occidental with 580,770 tourist who stayed in hotels and other accommodation outside Bacolod City. With the development of attractions and resorts, day tourist recorded has reached 927,293.
         
bedroom at Balicaocao
Kabankalan Turism
Balicaocao Eco Park
Balicaocao Eco Park
with Kabnkalan Tourism Officer Bernadette Ayala
          I had the chance to go on a three day road trip with DOT’s Negros Occidental coordinator Tim Ticar and  Ely Sodusta for the mobile accreditation and inspection of facilities wherein we visited San Carlos, Calatrava, Escalante, Cadiz, Victorias, and Kabankalan for the campaign. we visited more than 20 accommodation facilities.  Mr. Ticar gave some tips on housekeeping and front office operations, we also met directly with tourism stakeholders, explained the National Tourism Act and the importance of tourism statistics. Surprisingly, many of the resorts and hotels are developing into AAA and AA facilities. Balicaocao EcoPark in Kabankalan has improved a lot. In fact, this is the only government run resort during our inspection that has met proper standards in terms of beds and full length mirrors. This was a fun road trip and we taught front liners proper practices in hotel housekeeping operations, learned a lot and will have more trips in the next few months until we increase tourist arrivals, and make Negros ready for domestic and foreign tourist.
         

with Sagay City Tourism and Stakeholders
Phoebe David of Brazaville Resort
Meeting the right standards for operations in tourism enterprises is important and a certification from the DOT for accreditation is proof that each establishment is ready for Visit Philippines 2015.

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