CENTRAL LUZON STATE UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE OF HOME SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY

Science City of Munoz
Nueva Ecija, Philippines 3120

TOURM 3105

PHILIPPINE GASTRONOMICAL TOURISM

CRITIQUE PAPER

The title of the study is “Cultural and economic benefits of festivals to community
residents of Batangas, Philippines” by Vanessa D. Gonzales, published April 2017.
The main argument or purpose of the work is to determine the cultural and economic
benefits of conducting festivals on the cities and municipalities of Batangas Province,
Philippines. It is created to help recreate the image of the town to get on the tourism map where
it helps the tourism industry and for opportunity of live improvement to the local community.
According to the article, the researcher believes that festivals held in Batangas help
improve the tourism industry of the town, it contributes in the promotion and marketing to
generates more tourists that can add to cultural and economic growth of that area. Moreover,
strategies and techniques done will benefit the local government unit, students, stakeholders and
other private sectors as it will give them ideas on the ideas of these festivals. It also clearly
shows that all the members of the community know and experience festivals no matter what
income class they belong.
The title is direct and specific to the population of interest which is the residents of
Batangas, Philippines but it also the allows the user of the information to focus more on the
context of festivals held in Batangas. Though it is stated as “cultural and economic benefits of
festivals to community residents of Batangas, Philippines” but upon reading the whole article,
the conclusion and recommendation is not consistent to the title because stated therein “The
respondents agreed that festivals have cultural and economic benefits from the preservation of
local traditions and culture that would uplift the tourism industry of Batangas province”.
Furthermore, the study focuses more on how festivals affect the tourism industry and did
not give an emphasis to the local community to how it affects their everyday living or does it
improve their daily lives. The researcher gives more context on the celebration of festivals that at
some point forgot to give an elaboration on the culture of Batangas and how these culture gives
rise to these festivals.
One of the results of data analysis imply that Batangas is still dominated by Roman
Catholic as they are participative because they set aside certain days to remember particular
saints with procession and celebrations and mentioned other religion such as Islams that they
don’t believe in rituals and other celebrations that Roman Catholic do, the researcher should
provide more explanation on these matter and not let such conflicting interest hanging that will
make users of the information confuse on the differences of these two religion.
 The researcher also provides more information on how to promote the tourism industry of
Batangas by the use of these festivals and often mentioned the preservation of traditions, but so
little on how it would help improve the lives of local people in terms of being financially
capable. Benefits of the tourist are more focused eventhough the respondents are the locals.
Questionnaire are properly made, researcher gives credit to everyone involved; individual
participation, income class and religion. Section cultural benefits table are also made wise as
they mentioned those possible instances that may arise upon successful festivals. Section
economic benefits table are accurate as to the form of general and whole town but lacking in
terms of improving daily lives of the individuals in the community.
The proposed action plan of the study is to showcase more festivals so that it will be
recognized not just by local residents but also tourists, preservation of heritage houses and
buildings and encourage local business hotels and resorts to create promos during festival
celebration. It is a great action plan as it will help the locals in employment and more income
will be produced which will benefit the town as a whole.