Visitors to Bacolod City can enjoy a leveled-up experience of the city’s rich culture and heritage with the assistance of 33 new community tour guides trained by the City Tourism Office and the Department of Tourism (DOT).

For the first time, the city government organized a training for tour guides to support various city-led tourism activities, such as guided tours, local events and heritage promotions.

City chief tourism operations officer Ma. Teresa Manalili said in an interview on Tuesday, August 5, the initiative is one of the pioneering projects of Mayor Greg Gasataya in terms of developing tourism front-liners.

“We are proud of our new batch of tour guides who are now better equipped to share Bacolod’s rich culture and heritage with the world,” she added.

Jennylind Cordero, chief tourism operations for regulations of DOT-Western Visayas, said the DOT will issue certificates and grant accreditations to the new community guides.

“This is the first time that we did a training for Bacolod City. They have met the standards of becoming community tour guides,” she added.

The week-long seminar, held until August 3, culminated in a mock tour assessment, where the participants demonstrated guiding techniques in actual site visits across Bacolod City.

The tour covered Megaworld’s The Upper East House, Capitol Lagoon, San Sebastian Cathedral, Bacolod Public Plaza, Manokan Country, and other key attractions.

The newly-trained community guides include those already serving as informal guides and those coming from the academe and government sectors, as well as service professionals, and private individuals.

“The training was very fulfilling. The speakers were experts in their fields. We learned a lot. The challenges were part of our journey and growth to become successful tour guides,” community tour guiding graduate Bea Sibugan said. (PNA)