For three consecutive years, Bago City is included in the Top 100 Green Destinations Stories list, an international platform that acknowledges and celebrates the most inspirational initiatives for sustainable tourism development, a press release from Bago PIO said.
This was announced during the unveiling ceremony held online by the Green Destinations on October 15.
The Bago City Tourism Affairs Office said the city’s story dubbed “Regenerative Agritourism: Cultivating a Sustainable Future for Bago City,” made it to the list this year, specifically for the Environment and Climate Category.
“This 2024, our story tells about how introducing climate positive tourism helped Bago City’s economic recovery and community empowerment,” it said.
Senior Tourism Operations Officer Mae Ann Furtos said the launching of the “Booming GREEN AGritOurism” (BAGO) program has transformed the farmers into “agripreneurs.”
Also, it maximized the farms’ potentials and promoted sustainable tourism by prioritizing the triple bottom line — planet, people and prosperity, Furtos said.
“As introduced in 2018, our agritourism programs shifted focus to sustainable, climate-responsive development, leveraging the city’s rural landscape, agroecological biodiversity, and rich farming culture,” she added.
These programs included Booming GREEN “Farm Tours,” Booming GREEN “Farmers Weekend Market,” and Booming GREEN “Gastronomy Tourism.”
These initiatives, she said, have positioned Bago City as a prime agritourism destination in the Philippines, recognized for its extraordinary agroecological biodiversity and exemplary environmental practices under the dynamic leadership and governance of Mayor Nicholas Yulo and Vice Mayor Ramon Torres.
Bago City has been included in the Top 100 Green Destinations Stories list since 2022.
Last year, its entry dubbed “Growing a Food Sufficient and Climate Smart Agroecological Destination” was among the Green Destinations’ Top 100 Stories.
In September 2022, Bago City’s “Reviving the Majestic Diversity of the Bago Watershed” project was also included in the Green Destinations Top 100 Stories list.
It then placed third among the finalists for the 2023 Green Destinations Story Awards under the Environment and Climate Category.
For Furtos, the city has maintained its momentum as one of the tourism destinations that places significant value in climate action and in making tourism more sustainable that is worth sharing to the world by sufficiently complying with the Green Destinations basic sustainability criteria.
“Alongside our Green Destinations journey is the big support of our agritourism communities and stakeholders- our farmers, our local tourism producers, our culinary community, our city government offices, and the mentorship of Madame Susan de Cárdenas, who all sustained us in this Top 100 competition,” Furtos said.
“Our gratitude to everyone who are a part of this recognition,” she said, adding that “we continue to stride in the GREEN which means Global, Regenerative, Empowered, Equitable, Natural direction for local tourism.”*