BACOLOD City – The Amakusa City in Japan is tapping Negros Occidental as its tourism partner in the Philippines.
The Amakusa tourism promotion team presented attractions to Negrense stakeholders in a meeting last week, which is part of the Tourism Business Exchange Program between the two areas.
Sakie Urakami-Saito, of the National Licensed English-Speaking Guide in Japan, said the major tourism offerings of Amakusa include its rich heritage, culture and history.
Situated in the center of Kyushu, southwest of Kumamoto, Amakusa consists of around 120 islands and designated as Unzen-Amakusa National Park centering on its coastlines.
“Tourists cannot imagine what the countryside of Japan is, if they only visit Tokyo and Osaka. The life of the local people there can be experienced in Amakusa,” Urakami-Saito said.
Amakusa, which remains home to early Christian culture, offers rare traces of history including introduction, propagation, oppression, hiding, and revival.
Sakitsu Village is one of the “Hidden Christian Sites” in the Nagasaki Region. It forms part of the area declared as the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization World Heritage Site in July 2018.
“These are on top of other tourism offerings – from food to a variety of natural attractions and views,” Urakami-Saito said.
Provincial Supervising Tourism Operations officer Cristine Mansinares said the provincial government is linking the promotion team from Japan to local tour operators in Negros Occidental.
Mansinares said while the group is promoting Amasuka to the Negrenses, it is also an opportunity for the province to promote its tourism industry in Japan.
“We want to strengthen the relations between the two tourism areas,” added Mansinares.(With a report from PNA/PN)
