Homes on Siargao Island opened to tourists

The lack of such basic tourism facilities like pension houses and small hotels hinder the tourism development of remote communities, but people in the quiet town of Pilar in Siargao Island, Surigao del Norte have solved this problem by accepting tourists through the home-stay program of the Department of Tourism (DoT).

When Pilar, which faces the Pacific Ocean and is famous for huge barracudas and schools of tuna in its waters hosted the first-ever International Game Fishing Tournament in 2008, the main problem of organizers was accommodations as there was none where tourists from overseas could stay in.

Made aware of the problem, Tourism Secretary Ace Durano immediately asked Pilar residents to participate in the DoT’s home-stay program, which allows homeowners to offer vacant rooms in their houses to tourists during festivals and other such events.

“I wish other local government units around the country will follow the home-stay program adopted by Pilar,” Durano told reporters. (Malou M. Mozo, MB)

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