San Carlos named as ‘ASEAN Clean Tourist City’

San Carlos City in Negros Occidental was named as one of the recipients of the 1st Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Clean Tourist City Award.

The city will be awarded during the ASEAN Tourism Forum to be held on January 26, 2018 in Shangri-La Hotel in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

In a letter, Department of Tourism (DOT) Undersecretary Alma Rita Jimenez congratulates San Carlos City for bagging the said award.

“With this award, we hope to hear more stories of San Carlos City’s success in the improvement and maintenance of its tourist attractions to sustainable development,” she mentioned in the letter.

The ASEAN Clean Tourist City Standard (ACTCS) aims to provide ASEAN member countries with a tool that will improve the quality of tourism in their cities, increase their marketing competitiveness but also improve the situation of local residents and their livelihood by alleviating poverty.

Moreover, it is also designed to protect the environment thus responding to the impacts of climate change and contributing to the sustainable development of ASEAN cities.

Indicators include the evaluation of sustainability of ASEAN cities such as the quality of the tourism they offer and identify areas that can be improved.

Through ACTCS, ASEAN member countries will be provided with benchmarks to ultimately lead to greater tourist satisfaction, greater numbers of visitors and better conditions for the local population.