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BY RESEL JOY TIANERO
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Tuesday, April 4, 2017
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ILOILO City – The upland municipality of Leon expects its tourist arrivals to “triple” this Holy Week.
The town is home to Bucari, a fledgling tourism area dubbed “Iloilo’s little Baguio” due to its cool climate.
Municipal Tourism Officer Rose Lea Blanca Kilayko said the local government is doubling its effort to ensure that visitors are well-accommodated.
“We are trying to see to it, too, that tourists are safe,” she added.
Kilayko did not give exact figures but claimed weekend tourists to Bucari were now by the “thousands.”
In 2010, Bucari was lucky to have 300 tourists each month, she recalled.
Aside from Bucari, the municipality is also promoting its agricultural products grown in the highlands.
Tourists were seeking them out, too, Kilayko revealed.
The Municipal Tourism Office already recorded South Koreans and Taiwanese among Bucari’s recent visitors.
Bucari gained much publicity in February due to the photos of a nude young woman taken there. But the conservative mayor of Leon was angry.
“We love Bucari. It’s a new tourist destination trying to make a name. We don’t need this negative publicity,” Mayor Rolito Cajilig told Panay News.
In the photos, the woman was alternately standing or lying down on a rock. She had nothing on but a pair of rubber shoes, a headset and a mobile phone.
Cajihig feared that the photos would destroy the image of Bucari that his municipal government was cultivating – a family-oriented, clean and fun tourist destination.
What he wanted, he said, were “positive” photos that could further promote Bucari.
The area is actually composed of Bucari, a hinterland barangay in Leon, and neighboring barangays of which 14 are in the municipality and seven in the adjacent town of Alimodian./PN
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