As El Nido continues a steady climb to tourism industry’s recovery, the Heritage Tourism Division of the Municipal Tourism Office was able to conduct Cultural Mapping Workshops in 4 barangays, namely, Sibaltan, Bagong-Bayan, Villa Libertad and San Fernando. The activities were in line with municipality’s Culture and Arts Plan for 2022-2026.
Cultural Mapping aims to identify, create inventory and turn cultural properties into additional tourism products. This is a pre-requisite to other programs lined up in the above-mentioned plan such Community-Based Tour Designing, Community-Based Events Designing and Formulation of Barangay Tourism Code.
Three barangays got their destination symbols already after the workshops. Destination symbol were formulated to create a distinct tourism brand for each barangay. Here is the updated list of barangays with destination symbols after the said Cultural Mapping Workshops:
- Sibaltan – Balay Cuyonon
- New Ibajay – Caves of Dewil Valley
- Manlag – Manla
- Mabini – Canovas Ruins
- Villa Paz – Puting Bato
- Teneguiban – Bell of Nuesta Seňora del Salvacion
- Bagong Bayan – Nami (Korot)
- Villa Libertad – Cuyonons during World War II
- San Fernando – San Fernando Marine Sanctuary
Sibaltan has already a destination symbol before the workshop was conducted this year, so the mapping was focused on the inventory of religious cultural properties. This was in preparation for the planned “Faith Museum” at the Sta. Putenciana Parish Church.
Bagong Bayan got “Nami” as the their destination symbol. Nami is a Tagbanua word for a root crop that is commonly eaten by the natives that eventually became the name of the place before it was renamed Bagong Bayan. Cuyonons call the root crop “Korot.” With this destination symbol, barangay’s branding shall focus on culinary tourism, agri-tourism and Tagbanua culture.
Villa Libertad, like Sibaltan, San Fernando and Villa Paz, is populated mostly by Cuyonons. During the cultural mapping, they chose “Cuyonons during World War II” as their destination symbol. This was because they are rich in World War II stories. They highlighted Inigtan Cave as their evacuation area during the war. Their tourism products shall revolve around history and Cuyonon culture.
San Fernando, on the other hand, chose their marine sanctuary as their brand. They see its strength as El Nido’s first established marine sanctuary. With this, their tourism brand will tell the story of their history of protecting the environment as well as the Cuyonon fishing culture.
With additional items in its cultural inventory, the Heritage Tourism Division aims to add additional products to El Nido’s tourism menu.
El Nido Heritage 