The Nueva Vizcaya Provincial Tourism Council convened for their 4th Quarter Meeting on November 24, 2025, at PLT Wellness and Mountain Resort in Solano, Nueva Vizcaya. Beyond the updates of actions taken on previous concerns, council members also reported on achievements and upcoming events for the end of the year.
The meeting was presided over by NVPTC Chairperson Ruth R. Padilla, with BM Eunice Galima-Gambol, Head of the Committee on Tourism and the Arts. Officers from the Provincial Tourism and Culture Office (PTCO) were also duly present, led by Acting Provincial Tourism and Culture Officer Marichelle O. Costales. Representatives from the associations with council membership were also present, from the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), the Nueva Vizcaya Hotel, Resort, and Restaurant Owners Associations (NVHRROA), the Nueva Vizcaya Farm Tourism Stakeholders Association (NVFTSA), the Nueva Vizcaya Municipal Tourism Officers Association (NVMTOA), the Nueva Vizcaya Tour Guides Association (NVTGA), to Saint Mary’s University (SMU) and Nueva Vizcaya State University (NVSU).
According to a tourism statistics report given by the PTCO, there was a marked decrease in the arrivals of tourists and excursionists from 2024 to 2025. The report also showed that Bayombong and Solano welcomed the majority of tourists and excursionists in the current year, despite the municipality of Ambaguio’s Sky Escape 360 experience being the most visited tourist attraction in the province as of October 28, 2025. The PTCO also reported on their commendation from the SP for their numerous wins at the Association of Tourism Officers Philippines (ATOP) Pearl Awards.
The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Region II, through their field office in Nueva Vizcaya, reported on their conduct of the Industry Tripartite Council (ITC) on Tourism meeting on October 6, 2025, in Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya. Attended by DOLE field officers, the PTCO, and select owners of tourism establishments, DOLE concluded that ‘the principles of tripartism were successfully reaffirmed’ by the tourism stakeholders of the province.
As the natural progression from requests and suggestions made in previous meeting, NVSU then presented the findings from their research on indigenous gastronomy and its potential for food tourism in the province. Aside from documenting over twenty dishes from the Bugkalot, Isinay, Gaddang, and Kalanguya indigenous communities, NVSU also managed to create four documentary videos, four information education campaign (IEC) materials, and a drafted coffee table book, as well as a product enhancement experiment. Suggestions from the council ranged from the inclusion of the study in an event during the Grand Ammungan Festival (GAF) 2026 to bringing indigenous dishes to local restaurants.
Miss Lilibeth Maniwag of the NVFTSA took the opportunity to announce the organization’s inaugural Farm Tourism Festival, to be held from December 5 to 7 in Solano. As expressed by the NVFTSA, the event intends to place Nueva Vizcaya as the center of farm tourism in the region. Despite the delay and destruction caused by Super Typhoon Uwan, the NVFTSA would be hosting the event with additional goals of advertising agriculture and farm tourism to the general public.
With other proposed innovations and continued efforts to bolster tourism and cultural awareness in the province, this year of tourism for the province saw not only continued effort, but renewed and greater endeavors from the council and by extension, the provincial government through the PTCO. The coming year and a new calendar of events may extend these efforts and endeavors for greater tourism in Nueva Vizcaya. /igmb
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