By: RYAN GABRIEL L. ARCENAS
TACLOBAN CITY- The regional office of the Department of Tourism is set to conduct its assessment on tourism-development areas hit by supertyphoon Yolanda.
The assessment will be done within this month, says Tourism Regional Director Karen Tiopes.“We will engage or consult the stakeholders such as the local government units and non-government organizations to find out what are their plans with regards to the development of our tourism,” Tiopes said.
In region, the towns that were severely affected are located in the provinces of Leyte and Eastern Samar.
Tiopes said that she is upbeat that once the rehabilitation of these typhoon-hit areas are completed, tourists would come in considering that the region had virtually became known to the world after Yolanda devastated on November 8.
Tiopes also said that they would tap areas in the region which were least affected by the supertyphoon like Southern Leyte, Northern Samar and northwest Leyte in which they will develop and promote market “volunteerism” tours shore up the tourism industry of affected areas like Tacloban.
“Tourists can go there to help build houses for villages destroyed or wiped out by the super typhoon,” Tiopes emphasized.
She said that volunteerism will encourage tourists to help rehabilitate those typhoon affected areas in the region and at the same time protect the environment.
