CEBU CITY — A tourism stakeholder Sunday urged communities to tap the immense growth potential tourism can bring to their areas even as he pointed out that Philippine tourism has now gone to the grassroots level.

Dr. Robert Lim Joseph, Chairman Emeritus of National Association of Independent Travel Agencies (NAITAS), reported this development, saying community tourism has empowered rural folk and is stirring up countryside growth.

Joseph said many community tourism projects, which NAITAS is actively promoting along with local governments, non-government organizations, and civic and religious groups, have succeeded despite lack of financial resources, basic infrastructure and managerial skills.

There have been instances, he said, where tourism activities in far-flung areas have prospered despite meager capital infrastructure in the beginning, but the “abundance in will, creativity and enthusiasm among the residents, have made a success out of such activities.

Joseph cited the case of Barangay Lamac, Pinamungajan town in southwestern Cebu which is a secluded mountain valley, but which many describe as a “hidden paradise.”

It was hidden, he said, because the barrio had no road, no electricity and no potable water supply. Thus, not many people even from neighboring towns wanted to go there and see its natural wonders which include seven caves, a lagoon for water sports and a lake for rafting and fishing.

But the local residents, mostly farmers, realizing that they have a jewel of a place, volunteered to build, on a rotation basis, a road which made their barangay accessible to the outside world, Joseph said.

The Barangay Lamac residents organized themselves in 1970 into what is now known as the Lamac Multi-Purpose Cooperative (LMPC), which is responsible for improving the road constructed by the locals, which had been gravel, into concrete, making Cebu City just a two-hour ride away.

The LMPC thought big and a result of such mental attitude is the P30-million Hidden Valley Resort which can accommodate 400 guests. Local businessmen, school officials, students, balikbayans and foreign tourists, have visited the resort, Joseph said.

As a result, Lamac, with a population of 5,000, now has a church, a health center, elementary and secondary schools, a post office, a bakery, its own water system and drug store, plus a farm-to- market concrete road.

Joseph also pointed to the Olango group of islands off Mactan, which is situated between Cebu and Bohol.

Olango is now being developed into an eco-tourism center, which, when finished, will have a 50-room, 100-bed facility; classrooms; a scuba diving center; an electronic library, observation tower, mangrove walkways, and a spa and wellness center.