Ilocos Norte offers lesson on how to deal with China threats

LAOAG CITY—Tourist destinations that are beginning to feel the pinch from threats by China to stop its tourists from coming to the Philippines could learn from Ilocos Norte’s experience.

Since Holy Week, according to the province’s tourism office, at least 700,000 local and foreign tourists have come to visit.

Ianree Raquel, provincial tourism officer, said the figures were collected from hotel owners, home-stay operators, lodging houses and traffic and tourist centers that were set up since the start of the dry season.

Visitors who came to the province, a major chunk of which are domestic tourists, were largely attributed to the tourism pitch that the provincial government put together in March and aimed at the domestic market and other countries aside from China.

The campaign pitch, “Paoay Kumakaway” (Paoay is waving), had since reached a wide audience locally and abroad using TV spots, billboards in Metro Manila’s main routes, on the screens of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport and online sites.

The provincial government also transformed Ilocos Norte’s tourism landscape from a mere rest and recreation spot to a family-type destination after the number of Chinese tourists dwindled following the pullout of Hong Kong flights from Laoag City as a result of the massacre of Hong Kong residents during the Luneta hostage crisis in Manila in 2010.

Gov. Imee Marcos said while the increased tourist arrival was fulfilling, the provincial government did not anticipate the huge number of tourists.

“We managed the droves of tourists that came in with grave difficulty,” she said.

The limited hotels and restaurants around the province were no match to the number of tourists streaming in, she said.

“We tied up with gasoline stations to accommodate tourists stopping over for toilet breaks to address the absence or lack of public toilets,” she said.

The province’s tourism brand involved repackaging Ilocos Norte as a destination for man-made, natural and historical attractions with a variety of sites to choose from. Among the favorite spots are the Kapurpurawan (white) rock formation of Burgos town, Pagudpud’s beaches, Bangui wind farm, the province’s sand dunes, the Marcos museum and Paoay church.

On top of the usual tourism sites, the provincial government also put together events beginning May to continue generating tourism activities, such as the sand festival at the Paoay sand dunes on May 10.

The event was meant to sell the province’s stretch of sand dunes as venue for sand sports like off-road racing, sand-castle building and art installations.

The Paoay sand dunes became popular in the 1980s as the setting of internationally acclaimed film, “Himala,” by the late national artist Ishmael Bernal and which starred Nora Aunor.

It was on the same spot that unusual art installations of sculptor Leeroy New were built as part of the sand festival.

New’s works included a huge vessel-type bamboo art that he built in 12 days and which stood in the middle of the dunes.