BACOLOD City – Bago City in Negros Occidental was included anew in the global Green Destinations Top 100 Stories 2024 list.
It is listed under the Environment and Climate Category of the Top 100 Green Destinations, an international platform that acknowledges and celebrates the most inspirational initiatives for sustainable tourism development.
The city’s entry dubbed “Regenerative Agritourism: Cultivating a Sustainable Future for Bago City” – Going towards Bago City’s Climate Positive Tourism” tells about how introducing climate positive tourism helped Bago City’s economic recovery and community empowerment.
Senior Tourism Operations Officer Mae Ann Furtos said to support the city’s economic recovery, the local tourism and agriculture offices launched the “Booming GREEN AGritOurism” (BAGO) program that has transformed farmers into “agripreneurs.”
The program also maximizes farms’ potentials and promotes sustainable tourism by prioritizing the triple bottom line — planet, people and prosperity, added Furtos.
In 2018, the city’s agritourism programs shifted the focus to sustainable, climate-responsive development, leveraging the city’s rural landscape, agroecological biodiversity, and rich farming culture.
These programs included Booming GREEN “Farm Tours,” Booming GREEN “Farmers Weekend Market,” and Booming GREEN “Gastronomy Tourism.”
Furtos said these initiatives have positioned Bago City as a prime agritourism destination in the country, recognized for its extraordinary agroecological biodiversity and exemplary environmental practices under the leadership of Mayor Nicholas Yulo and Vice Mayor Ramon Torres.
Bago City has been included in the Top 100 Green Destinations Stories list since 2022.
Now on its 10th year, the Green Destinations Top 100 Stories competition “shares and promotes stories that recount innovative and effective initiatives and projects from destinations working towards more responsible tourism development”./PN
