Preserving Cultural Traditions among Ifugao Migrants: A Path to Sustainable Local Eco-Cultural Tourism in the Philippines

Institutions have techniques for promoting their own tourism industry. Tourism is usually attached to relaxation through visual appreciation of nature in eco-tourism and cultural immersion. With the advent of globalization, our environment and culture are in peril, and so is the tourism industry. Thus, with the promotion of local tourism in mind, the researchers investigated whether Ifugao migrants still practice their cultural traditions, specifically their dances and music, delicacies, handicrafts, and costumes. The researchers used qualitative methods to gather data through phenomenological observation, interviews, focus group discussions, and photo documentation. The first and second-generation Ifugao migrants served as participants in the study. The study revealed that Ifugao migrants in Villa Aurora and Villa Florentino, Diadi, Nueva Vizcaya occasionally practice their dance and music, make their delicacies and even their handicraft but is limited only to the use of bamboo as material due to lack of rattan, and they also wear their traditional costumes on special occasions. The death of elders, their work on their farms, education of the young, modernization, religion, and intermarriages hinder the practice of their traditions. However, they considered weddings, school programs, fiestas, and cultural competitions to be enablers that helped practice and preserve their culture and traditions. An opportunity to conserve their cultural traditions is for them to be organized as cultural performers as additional tourist attractions at the Lower Magat Eco-Tourism Park in Diadi, Nueva Vizcaya, Philippines, which is just adjacent to the research locale of Villa Aurora and Florentino.