SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS
Tourism Products
While there are attractions and tourism potentials in Castilla, they are not developed into tourism products that may be sold in the tour and travel market, domestic or foreign. The Nasipit Estuary and River is a uniquely beautiful place but is not developed into an area for adventure or recreation. It is nature’s wealth that has to be harnessed coupled with development of, probably, modest facilities and quality frontline services along nature adventure, like; firefly watch, fishing, snorkeling or skin diving, kayaking or boating, etc.
With this plan, one of the first observable results shall be the developed tourism products that will be primarily promoted and sold by the Municipal Tourism Office in the absence of travel trade outfits in the municipality. The same office shall capacitate the present accommodation establishments operators to promote and market the developed tourism products.
Tourism Potentials, Attractions, Assets
Annex C is a List of all Tourism Potentials, Attractions, and Assets of the Municipality of Castilla based on the Assessment and Validation conducted by the Department of Tourism, Region V, Legazpi City. The Nasipit Estuary & River, Malawmawan Island Sandbar-Lagoon-Bird Sanctuary, and the Maypange Waterfalls are high potential natural attractions. Most of assets and attractions are medium potential, and few are considered low potential.
One of the outputs from this plan is to conduct a thorough assessment and validation of tourism potentials, assets and resources of the municipality before tourism products are developed with consideration to economic, social, and environmental dimensions of tourism development.
Tourism Facilities and Services
2.3.1 Transportation
Inter-modal transport system is not available in Castilla. There is no air transport facility as there is no airport or airstrip facility in the municipality. The municipality is dependent from the Legazpi Airport for air access which is approximately 30 kilometers away. The new Bicol International airport, 22 km away, will be the future easier and more convenient air access.
At present there are no passenger sea crafts serving the coastal areas of municipality along the Ticao Pass, except for outrigger fishing boats that may be hired per day. As fishing boats, the vessels are not customized as a passenger vessel – passenger safety equipments and training of boat crew on safety and emergency. The presence of a RORO Port in Poblacion, Castilla has not enticed passenger shipping lines, even with the outrigger-boat class to establish a route franchise connecting Castilla to other areas within in the province along the Ticao or Burias Passes, to other provinces like municipalities of Ticao Island, mainland Masbate, or to provinces of Region 6, 7, & 8.
However, Castilla does not have any problem in land transportation facilities as a primary component in tourism. With the Maharlika Highway, cutting across the municipality, all types of passenger land transport facilities are available. Most of the barangays along the coastal areas of the municipality are with road networks serviced mainly by passenger jeepneys and tricycles. Passenger buses(ordinary and air-conditioned), air-conditioned vans and jeepneys are available in Barangays along the Maharlika Highway to routes like; Sorsogon City, Daraga, and Legazpi City. Airconditioned and ordinary buses cater to passengers from key points of the Castilla along the Maharlika Highway to cities and municipalities in Southern Tagalog Region, Metro Manila, eastern Visayas, key cities in Mindanao, and Bohol through Bato, Leyte.
Castilla’s land transport sector has an existing integrated network of improved and paved roads linking key barangays, its ports in Poblacion and Macalaya, and to the key service center of Bicol Region and Legazpi City, where inter-modal transport facilities and services are present. There is still, however, a need for adequate facilities for safe and comfortable travel of tourists, and improved access and connectivity to tourism sites. Moreover, the municipality needs a visitor friendly land transport terminal, and municipal registered tour transport operations. Table 4 (Land Transport Facilities and Services) identifies the passenger land transport facilities and services may be harnessed for tourism purposes.
The development of ALMASOR TDA with Legazpi City developed into a tourism hub and Sorsogon City as key service center, Castilla shall be able to efficiently connect to Legazpi City and Sorsogon City through reliable and comfortable means of land transport facilities, and efficient and guest friendly transport services.
2.3.2 Accommodation
There are only five accommodation facilities in the Municipality, three of which are located in Cumadcad, one in Milagrosa, and one in Poblacion. Table 5 lists the accommodation facilities present in the municipality with their corresponding room capacity. Due to lack of accommodation facilities, other guests stay with friends and relatives or residential houses serving as homestay.
The total room capacity of the municipality is ___. Please, see table below.
More private investors are encouraged to establish TOEs because of the demand in the tourism industry brought about by the increasing growth trend in visitor arrivals in the province of Sorsogon and other ALMASOR provinces. With the development of tourism products in Castilla, demand for accommodation facilities is certain.
2.3.3 Food and Beverages
Most tourists travel not only to see sites and attractions but to try the foods of the place they visit. Castilla has a lot to offer and is one of the culinary sites of Sorsogon. As an agriculture rich municipality, it has diverse crops for authentic Bicolano cuisine.
Castilla is popular of its sea foods. Some of the fresh Sea foods in Daraga, Legazpi City or Sorsogon City comes from the coastal barangays of Castilla. Very popular in the wet market is the “baluko”, a meaty shellfish that can be cooked in several recipes like, fried, adobo or with coconut milk and lots of chili.
2.3.4 Travel Trade
There are no travels and tours outfit nor tour guides in the municipality. In the absence of these outfits ( Tour Operator, Travel Agency, and Tour Guides), the LGU fills the gap by creating a tourism office with staff trained to handle guests. In many occasions, tour operators from Legazpi City or Sorsogon City facilitates tours to places in Castilla without even passing or dropping by the LGU Center for courtesy call, registration or whatsoever.
The common practice of tour operators or travel agencies from other LGUs or provinces is to go directly to the barangay where the site or attraction belongs and coordinate with the barangay official, preferably, the Barangay Captain. Without a system established, Barangay officials simply accommodates guests without even logging or registering guests.
There is a real need to streamline systems of facilitating guests or tourists to any place in the municipality, also, encouraging the private sector to engage in the travel trade business.
2.3.5 Attractions
Castilla has a good number of natural attractions that can be developed into globally-competitive tourism products ( Table __). The clear and calm waters of the wide Nasipit River and Estuary, the enchanting island of Malawmawan which is the home to species of wild ducks, egrets and other bird species, and the fantastic cascading waters of Canjela are some of the wealth of wonders of the municipality.
Sagurong (Spring) in La Union offers a cool and enchanting landscape that will always lure guests to stay longer and try its refreshing waters in rustic pools. A number of untouched islets of the municipal waters along the Ticao Pass are waiting to be discovered.
2.3.6 Events
Fiesta celebrations in each barangay portray the rich cultural heritage of the Castillanons. It provides local entrepreneurs the opportunity to market their products and services as fiesta celebration includes flea market, trade fairs, tupada, and other cultural activities.
The annual Unod Festival every October that started in 2005 is a thanksgiving celebration for good harvest.
2.3.7 Adventures and Recreation
There are sites for adventures but the LGU has not developed adventure activities in terms of packages. Natural attractions, like mountain ranges, dive sites, etc. are present but they are not developed into tourism products. Similarly, the LGU is anemic with recreational activities. There are, however; night spots in Barangay Cumadcad but facilities are awful. In most barangays, stores with videoke is the most common entertainment in evenings.
2.3.8 Shopping
Medium-size stores, and trading businesses are mostly in Barangay Cumadcad. In all the barangays, it is only in Cumadcad that one will find a store selling native products and handicrafts. While there are a good number of residents engaged in handicrafts making, their products find their way to Daraga or Legazpi City.
Prime commodities, like; rice, meat, fish, etc. may be accessed in the markets of Cumadcad, Macalaya, and Poblacion but most of what are needed by guests and tourists will have to be purchased in Sorsogon City, Daraga or Legazpi City.
Tourism Support Facilities and Services
2.4.1 Roads
Castilla has about 100.984 km with 24.82 km provincial road, 5.189 km municipal road, and 57.975 km barangay road. Of the 100.984 km road length, 26.65 km were concretely paved, 14.2 km were asphalt paved, 42.69 km were unpaved gravel road, and 17.444 km were earth-filled. Unpaved, gravel, and earth-filled roads makes 84% of the total road network that serves as the main link between the rural barangays and the town proper are now of poor physical condition.
Municipal roads are found in the town proper that lead to adjoining barangays. The existing rural road to arable land ratio is 0.078 km per 100 hectares as compared to the rural road standard of 1.5 km per 100 hectares of arable land. Existing urban road length in the municipality is 28.189 km for an urban road to population ratio of 0.000687 km per 1,000 populations. This means that the municipality has still inadequate urban roads using the 2.4 km per 1,000 population as standard.
The municipality’s road network is also supported by the presence of bridge, which made previously unreachable areas accessible. Official records will show a total of eight (8) bridges, three (3) of which are national and provincial by type of administration. Nationally-administered bridges have a total length of 127.10 meters while the provincial- and barangay-administered bridges have a road length of 88.80 meters and 46.00 meters, respectively. Except for Dancalan Bridge, all of the seven (7) bridges are made of concrete materials and of good condition. Dancalan Bridge, which has an estimated length of 16.30 meters, is made of temporary materials, consisting of bamboo and anahaw lumber, and is considered impassable by any light vehicle.
2.4.2 Hospitals and Clinics
The Vicente Peralta Memorial Hospital in Cumadcad, a 25-bed capacity emergency hospital provides general medical services, general surgery, OB-GYNE, and pediatrics manned by four (4) Municipal Health Officers, eight (8) Public Health Nurses, one (1) Pharmacist, one (1) Nutritionist, one (1) Medical Technologist, eight (8) Nursing Aides, two (2) Institutional Workers, and eight (8) more hospital workers.
There is a Rural Health Unit staffed by one (1) Medical General practitioner, two (2) Nurses, one (1) Midwife, one (1) Dentist, one (1) Medical Technologist, one (1) Rural Sanitary Inspector. There are two birthing lying-in clinics and a medical clinic in Cumadcad.
