A faith-based and religious tour will soon be offered to tourists here in the province.
This comes as the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP) led by Vice Governor Rene Lopez Relampagos approved on Tuesday, Aug. 31, 2021, a resolution that authorizes Gov. Arthur C. Yap to collaborate with the Diocese of Tagbilaran and work for the putting up of the proposed faith-based tourism project.
In approving the resolution, Relampagos said the project will be an added tourist attraction of the province’s tourism industry that it can promote and offer as soon as Bohol is ready to open up for tourists.
The vice governor said that one of the province’s assets is the set several cultural heritage structures and historical churches that are centuries-old. It is a fact that a lot of tourists often visit the province’s old churches.
Provincial Planning Development Officer, Atty. John Vistal said the Diocese of Tagbilaran, the Provincial Government of Bohol (PGBh), and the Provincial Tourism Council (PTC) have agreed to establish a faith-based tourism program.
The program will introduce new tourism circuits in the Bohol as a way of acknowledging the importance of the province’s old churches.
Moreover, the project is a way to help the local economy.
According to Vistal, as clarified by Fr. Ted Torralba, it was the Diocese of Tagbilaran that approached the province to propose the project because there has been a shortage of church and faith-based activities here.
The Diocese is looking for ways to get more activities in the churches while helping the people improve economically.
It can be remembered that there is a pact between the Vatican and the Republic of the Philippines in relation to handling common interests on the care of the churches in the Philippines, which is part of the nation’s cultural heritage.
The project will have tours similar to pilgrimages where devotees would travel to religious destinations.
The religious tours also aim to meet the goals of the Church to reinforce the faith of the people and promote economic welfare.
Moreover, the project serves to hit the poverty reduction goals of the provincial government.
Under the project, a Heritage Tourism and Pilgrimage Center will act as a hub for the hop-on-hop-off tour bus carousel and ticketing office including an information center.
It will be the task of the provincial government to assist local government units (LGU) in the preparation and development of strategic cultural mapping initiatives and cite development plans, as well as capacity development for church guides and related functions.
The Diocese of Tagbilaran will provide the LGUs with the site development and conservation management plan of its identified heritage historical churches.
The Diocese will also prepare faith-based tourism literature and souvenirs for sale which will serve as a livelihood for the people living near the tourism sites.
Meanwhile, the PTC will give support by providing livelihood programs and offering advice to both the provincial government and the Diocese of Tagbilaran.
In 2013, most of Bohol’s historical and heritage churches were destroyed by the 7.2 magnitude earthquake. For almost a decade, these churches were rebuilt and reconstructed with the help of the National Government through the National Museum of the Philippines and the National Historical Commission of the Philippines.