MANILA, Philippines — We just got an e-mail announcing the convening of the “First National Agritourism Research Conference in the Philippines” under the auspices of the Tourism Foundation Inc. and the Los Baños-based SEARCA or Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture.

The venue is still undisclosed but the three-day event will be held on June 27-29. Topics include “Theory and Practice in the Philippine Agritourism Sector,” “Financing Agritourism Initiatives/Marketing and Business Development,” “Partnerships and Collaboration in Agritourism Ventures,” “Cultural and Historical Aspects of Agritourism,” and “Policy and Regulatory Concerns of Agritourism/Certification/Sustainability Challenges.”

Indeed agritourism offers new opportunities for investors to make money. It could create new jobs and new income opportunities for farmers.

There are a few agritourism projects that come to mind. One is the Dasoland of Menardo Jimenez in Dasol, Pangasinan. This is a mango plantation-based project but there are a lot of other things that the tourist will enjoy.

There are a number of agritourist destinations in Mindanao like those owned by the Puentespina family, the Villegas family and others.

A novel project that is already drawing a number of local tourists, especially those who are interested in organic farming, is the Costales Nature Farms in Majayjay, Laguna.

There should be more projects that are near Metro Manila so that it is less expensive to travel to such places. An ideal place would be Villa Escudero in San Pablo and Tiaong, if plantations of Longkong lanzones, durian, rambutan, mangosteen, dragon fruit, pummelo and other exotic varieties could be established there. Fruit festivals when the different fruits are in season would certainly attract a lot of visitors.

Anyway, let us hope that the forthcoming Agritourism Conference will open the eyes of investors as well as the government to the opportunities in this sector.

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