Home⇛Augustinian⇛vol. 25 no. 1 (2025)

The Municipality of Oton, Iloilo, as a Heritage Destination: Local Stakeholders’ Assessment of Awareness, Competitiveness, and Sustainability

Ericka D. Balajadia | Ardjelene G. Cambas | Gelly C. Deypalubos | Emy Joy B. Gonzaga | Tim A. Paril | Leigh Lawrence Ray D. Ikalina

Discipline: social sciences (non-specific)

 

Abstract:

The Municipality of Oton, Iloilo, a first-class coastal municipality located in the southern part of Iloilo Province, boasts itself as a heritage destination. This descriptive-correlational study investigated the awareness, competitiveness, and sustainability of the Municipality of Oton, Iloilo, as a heritage destination as assessed among the local tourism stakeholders. Two hundred (200) respondents took part in the study using the quota sampling technique. Frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation were used in the descriptive analyses, while Mann-Whitney U Test, Kruskal-Wallis Test, Test for Multiple Comparisons, and the Spearman Rho were employed in the inferential analyses with the significance level set at .05 alpha. Results reveal that the assessment of the level of awareness, degree of competitiveness, and level of sustainability was aware, extremely competitive, and extremely sustainable, respectively. Moreover, significant differences exist in the local tourism stakeholders’ assessment of level of awareness when classified according to age, educational attainment, and type of stakeholder. Additionally, significant differences in the degree of competitiveness in terms of sex and tenure of residence and significant differences in the level of sustainability in terms of tenure of residence were likewise found. Ultimately, significant correlations were found between awareness and sustainability and between competitiveness and sustainability of the Municipality of Oton, Iloilo, as a heritage destination.



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