The municipality of Leon as a tourist destination: Status, problems, and prospects for development as assessed among the stakeholders.

Abstract

This survey-correlational study, conducted in August 2018, aimed at ascertaining the status, problems, and prospects for development of the Municipality of Leon as a tourist destination. Two hundred ten (210) selected hospitality and tourism stakeholders and tourism-related organization employees in the Municipality of Leon participated in the study. These participants were stratified into: 35 accommodation employees, 35 food and beverage employees, 35 transportation sector employees, 35 employees from the local government unit, 35 local residents, and 35 tourists. The questionnaire of Pauline June Q. Palla (2015) was adapted and utilized as an instrument to gather the data on the status, problems, and prospects of the Municipality of Leon as a tourist destination. Frequency count, percentage analysis, mean, and standard deviation were employed as descriptive statistics, while the Wilcoxon-Mann Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis tests were used as inferential statistics. The .05 alpha level was utilized as the criterion for the acceptance or rejection of the null hypotheses. The study found out that, generally, the stakeholders assessed that the Municipality of Leon is within the standard of a tourist destination, but with somewhat serious problems, and viable prospects for development. Finally, a positive and significant relationship existed between the stakeholders' assessment of the status and prospects for development and status and problems of the Municipality of Leon as tourist destination. However, a positive but not significant relationship existed between the stakeholders assessment of the prospects for development and problems of the Municipality of Leon as a tourist destination. It may be concluded that the Municipality of Leon has complied with the standards required to qualify as a tourist destination. Moreover, it may also be inferred that the local community should continually support the local government's projects through active participation in the conservation of the municipality's tourist attractions such as Bucari. The participants seem to believe that tourism will bring about positive impacts for the Municipality of Leon as a tourist destination, and that that the status, problems, and prospects for development of the municipality as a tourist destination affect one another. Therefore, the local government unit and the different tourism stakeholders and service providers are enjoined to assist the Provincial Tourism Office and the Leon Municipal Tourism Office in providing products and services to further promote the Municipality of Leon as a tourist destination.