BALITANG LOKAL (CALAPE)

BITGAP Annual Tourism Quiz eliminations set Friday in Calape
By: Welbe Caragan
June 22, 2008

Senior high school students from the first congressional district of Bohol will come under the spotlight next week as the Bohol Island Tour Guides Association of the Philippines, Inc. (BITGAP) quizzes them on Bohol’s tourism sights, standards, arts and culture.

Organized by BITGAP, an organization of Department of Tourism-accredited tour guides in the Province of Bohol, the Annual Provincial Tourism Quiz seeks to generate awareness and strengthen knowledge and appreciation of Bohol’s pride and ecotourism assets among young Boholanos.

Participants from various high schools in the first congressional district (except Tagbilaran City) will converge at the New Calape Cultural Center and Sports Complex on Friday, June 27, 2008, 1:00 pm for the 1st leg of the competition.

The academic feat is open to the public. The competition will feature teams composed of two senior high school students.

BITGAP believes that graduating students even in the towns should have a grasp on and exposure to the tourism industry in Bohol.

The Quiz will consist of two rounds — the elimination and finals.

The three teams with the highest scores in the elimination round will move on to the final round, and the team with highest score at the end of the final round (either municipal or city level) will be declared the Champion.

Fabulous prizes await the lucky winners in the elimination as well as the Championship round.

Two teams of overall champion shall be declared – one at the district level and another at the city level.

“We are having this and the succeeding year’s competition at the district level in order to give high school students from the various towns greater opportunity to participate in the contest,” says BITGAP President Danny C. Nazareno.

In the past eight years, the quiz was conducted only during the tourism month in September when high school students from the municipalities all over the Province usually come to Tagbilaran City for the competition.

“This year’s competition will be different as we will only be requiring the winners in the elimination round to come to Tagbilaran City for the championship round,” Nazareno stressed.

This is also to celebrate BITGAP’s ten years of professional tour guiding services for sustainable development in the Province of Bohol.

The second and third congressional districts elimination level will be in Ubay and Carmen, respectively.

It will be held on July 25 for the second district and August 29 for the third district.

Winners in the elimination round will vie for the finals in the morning of September 20, 2008 in Tagbilaran City.

The City high schools will have their elimination and final round in the afternoon of the same day.

The local government unit executives of the different host towns have already committed their all-out support to the competition.

In separate meetings with the Committee on the 9th Annual Provincial Tourism Quiz 2008, Mayors Sulpicio Yu, Jr. of Calape, Eutiquio M. Bernales of Ubay and Manuel R. Molina of Carmen did not hesitate to throw their hats of support as hosts to the yearly event.

They will provide the venue and other logistical requirements for the successful conduct of the competition.

Various tourism stakeholders who realized the significance of the activity also rallied behind BITGAP.

These include BQ Mall, Gerry’s Grill, Bohol Beach Club, Amarela Beach Resort, Panglao Island Nature Resort and Spa, Vest Pension House, JJ’s Seafood Village, Congressman Edgar M. Chatto and Vice-Governor Julius Ceasar Herrera, to name a few major sponsors.
Other supporters include Julies Bakeshop –Bohol branches, Weesam Express, Long River Floating Restaurant and Supercarp of Loboc.

Invitation letters have also been sent to the Department of Education, City Schools Division and the Bohol Association of Catholic Schools (Talibon and Tagbilaran City) for their schools within their jurisdiction to join.

Confirmation slips of participating schools can be submitted at the Department of Education Office or at the Bohol Tourism Office, Capitol building, Tagbilaran City.

Tourism Quiz 2008 Committee Chairman Mr. Marc Brian Mascariòas said that BITGAP expects high schools, most especially in the municipalities, to send two participants each to the Quiz.

“The participants from the municipalities will now have the opportunity to grab the championship trophy and fabulous prizes considering that we have made the competition accessible to them by holding it within their district and we will also be providing traveling allowance for the winners in the elimination round including their coaches who will vie for the finals in Tagbilaran City,” Mascariòas further explained.

BITGAP’s district level competition precedes the 9th Annual Provincial Tourism Quiz Championship Round— the search for the country’s young tourism whizzes — on September 20, 2008, as part of BITGAP’s activities for the National Tourism Week celebration.