PROMOTING TOURIST DESTINATION:

AN ASSESSMENT OF GUSALING MUSEO IN THE CITY

A Tourism Plan Proposal

By:
Cervantes, Kyle A.
Cañete, Desiree
Clemente, Michaela
Laylo, Elgie Lean
Lugar, Charlene
Luis, Marianne
Saniano, Honey Joy
Santiago, Donna Mae
Vivas, Jodelyn

February 26, 2020

In nowadays generation, people are more into travelling to places wherein they

can gather not only information but also experiences that can be new to them. One of

the places that is love by the tourists to visit based on The National Museum of the

Philippines director, Jeremy Barns are the museums. To quote, “When tourists go to a

country especially for the first time, they are really interested in getting to know the

place, especially the youth. So, for many tourists, the big museums are the first place

they go (to) because in a short visit, maybe an hour or so, they can get a good glimpse

of the culture, the history.” A museum is an institution that cares for the conservation of

collections of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific

importance. The largest museums that are known and famous are can be found in

major cities throughout the world, while thousands of local museums exist in smaller

cities, towns and rural areas. Museums have varying aims, ranging from serving

researchers and specialists to serving the general public. One of these historical

museums the treasures our past is the Gusaling Museo located at Santa Rosa City,

Laguna.

Gusaling Museo is a historical museum that showcases the rich history of the

Santa Rosa and its significance to the whole of Laguna. It displays artifacts and

furniture from pre - Spanish era to the times of World War II, as well as the memorabilia

of famous personalities from the city. It is a heritage Museum that is located near the

city Plaza and the Parish Church. The Museum opened on January 17, 2006 and

inaugurated on August 23. 2006. According to Laguna - destinations “The museum was

established to give pride to the rich history of the City and to commemorate the heroic
deeds of Santa Rosa heroes.” The museum is the home of the culture and tradition of

people of Santa Rosa, Laguna. Gusaling Museo is a two-story building which was built

in 1828 during the Spanish period as government building under the reign of Hon. Don

Bernardo Zavalla. Gusaling Museo is a museum in Santa Rosa, Laguna that is full of

historical evidences such as artifacts, cultures and activities that really define the

natives of the city. Promoting the museum to the public will help the city to know more

its history and culture. Also, if the promotion and innovation will become successful, the

museum will be known not only locally but also internationally, which will results to more

tourists destination will be boom. Moreover, Santa Rosa, officially the City of Santa

Rosa, (Tagalog: Lungsod ng Santa Rosa), or simply known as Santa Rosa City, is a 1st

class city in the province of Laguna, Philippines. According to the 2015 census, it has a

population of 353,767 people. It is the second largest local government unit in Laguna

after Calamba. Santa Rosa was initially known for the Coca-Cola and Toyota

manufacturing plants in its industrial estates. Recently, it has also become popular for

being the site of Enchanted Kingdom, a local theme park; as well as several housing

developments. This city contains the 3rd largest complex in Laguna, Paseo de Santa

Rosa. Santa Rosa became a city by virtue of Republic Act No. 9264, which was ratified

by its residents on July 10, 2004. Thus, if it happened that Gusaling Museo will be

promoted and innovated plus the tourist will have the capacity to know its beauty, it will

be more accessible and the city will be encouraging more tourists to visit its place and

know more about it.

TOURISM OPTIMIZATION MANAGEMENT MODEL (TOMM)

locals realize the importance of preserving their own natural resources in order to

maintain the attractiveness of the destination and develop in into a “tourism icon”.

1. HOW CAN THE AREA’S SUCCESS BE MEASURED?

National Museum and Gusaling Museo are museums located in the Philippines

which contribute to the preservation of the artifacts and culture of our own country. They

are both establishments that care for a collection of things from the past and other

objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. They are into collecting

arts and materials of cultural, religious and historical importance; preserve them;

research into them; and present them to the public for the purpose of education and

enjoyment. Thus, let us go deeper to the comparison of these two museums regarding

their attributes and how can we measure the success of the proposed campaign in line

with The National Museum into Gusaling Museo.

Gusaling Museo is a small specialized museum just like Rizal Shrine in Calamba,

Laguna. It is a typical one great big room filled with artifacts and furniture from pre-

Spanish era to the times of World War II, as well as, the memorabilia of famous

personalities from the city. On the other hand, National Museum is one of the huge and

popular museums in the Philippines and is the repository and guardian of the

Philippines’ natural and cultural heritage. Inside the National Museum is a big

establishment filled with documents, preserves, exhibits, and fosters scholarly study and

public appreciation of works of art, specimens, and cultural and historical artifacts which

represent our unique cultural heritage and the natural history of the Philippines. Going

back to the Gusaling Museo, it has a tarpaulin which contains the history of Sta. Rosa,
Laguna. They also had chairs and tables made from wood and other old equipment

such as typewriter, plate, jar, frames, and a lot more. While the National Museum is

more advanced for it has earth’s biosphere at a glance to show of how it was affected

by various factors, including the eruptions of Mount Pinatubo in 1991, the El Nino

phenomenon in 1997, and the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004. It also has a marine life

exhibit. One of the museum’s galleries will have you sing “Under the Sea” as it focuses

on the rich marine life in the Philippines. It includes preserved specimens of

crustaceans, starfish and a sizeable sea turtle. They also have a great way of displaying

artifacts that are inside the glass boxes. There are also sculptures made by various

famous sculptors with huge contributions to the Philippines. As we can see, the

Gusaling Museo is very much in contrast to the National Museum of the Philippines and

the only similarity they have is that they showcase artifacts and memorabilia that used

in the past.

National Museum this year's renovation has undergone major changes as it has

become popular again. Modernizing the museum has contributed immensely since it is

more accessible to people and more information will be found here. It regularly get a

huge number of visitors everyday comparing to their previous years. Animal replicas

that have contributed significantly to the history of the Philippines are a great help to

children because they are more visible and able to handle them without feeling

overwhelmed. The Gusaling Museo in Sta. Rosa Laguna is the museum that we

contrive to develop and the source from which the idea originated is from the National

Museum. The National Museum undergone renovation and is now a modernize

museum which with the help of modern technology has made it popular again. We
visualize that the redevelopment of the National Museum will also be the way of the

Gusaling Museo to have a good image to public especially the students of nearby

schools in the Gusaling Museo. The addition of modern technologies such as 3D

wallpapers that showcase the history of the important events of Sta. Rosa, LED lights

that highlight every artifacts and memorabilia inside the museum, and the observatory

room will show a glimpse of what is happening and happened in the city through the

Gusaling Museo. Thus, if the modernization of the infrastructures in National Museum

contributes to the popularity and influx of tourist visitation in the place, this will also

definitely happen in Gusaling Museo.

2. HOW CAN OUTPUTS BE MAXIMIZED OR IMPROVED?

Gusaling Museo is a museum in Santa Rosa, Laguna that is full of historical

evidences such as artifacts, cultures and activities that really define the natives of the

city. Thus, promoting the museum to the public will help the city to know more its history

and culture. In order to accomplish the objective of Gusaling Museo, all we have to do is

to use the essence of modernization by increasing the number of artifacts and other

objects of artistic, cultural, and historical items that are part and has something to do

with the history of Sta. Rosa. Modern technology will also help the Gusaling Museo to

attract more tourists and gain popularity to the public which can result the influx of

tourist visitation and also, promotion of the culture and history of Santa Rosa City itself.

Thus, this plan can further be maximized and improved by enhancing more the use of

these modernize technologies and advancing the use of the latter.

To promote, engage, comprehend and show the history behind Gusaling Museo and

the city to where it takes place, we can use the resources of the city to promote to the
tourists the importance and the difference of Gusaling Museo than any other attractions

you will found in the city and to use these resources as the medium in advancing and

modernizing the arts and crafts that lie inside the museum. The ideas of bringing the

museum to the present to growth and engage with the history connect not only to the

students, but also to the tourists and future generation of this world. By improving the

facilities in Gusaling Museo, it will help the museum to recognize easily because of

having a modern style which will easily caught the attention of the tourists. This can be

more improved and maximized by enhancing more the outside physical appearance of

the museum. Wall bricks can be use as the outer element of the museum to look more

vintage and attractive. Since Santa Rosa is known for its ceramic and bricks production,

resources of these materials can easily be accommodated. The museum also need to

find a way to maintain and increase their relevance in today’s digital world. Integrate

updated technology to the physical state of the museum like putting on clear voice over

in the area of each site can be a great way in attracting more the tourists. The provision

of LED lights that focus on each artifacts and artworks can have a big impact in giving

an emphasis to each items. Tourists, based on researches tend to go to museums

because they want to see different vintage and old items and also know what culture a

specific place have. In this case, if we can provide enough numbers of LED lights that

focus on these items, it will definitely attract more tourists. Also, based on our previous

works, we stated that provision of TV that showcases different historic places and

culture of Santa Rosa will also be the way of attracting tourists. Thus, advancing it more

such as putting this wide television on the ground that showcases the rich marine life of

Santa Rosa and have a sensitive scanner which whenever visitors put their feet on this
wide TV, ripples of waters will be seen as if you were creating real waves in the

seashore will definitely create a big impact to the tourists. If the museum successfully

turn this plan into a reality, it will attract more tourists and gain its popularity. Since the

National Museum already have this kind of advancement, adapting it would be a great

opportunity for Gusaling Museo to be modernize. Another thing is that when maximizing

the outputs of this study, we can also see other things rather than improving the

museum's physical attributed. Through the development Gusaling Museo, it can create

job employment for the local community which is a big help in increasing the city's

economic growth. Human resources will be needed as they give services for the tourist

that will visit the destination. Modernizing and advancing the museum means increase

in human capital is needed since they are the one who is capable in monitoring and

maintaining the goals of this study. Another thing is that, if the outputs that were being

proposed into this museum will be established, locals can generate income by creating

outside businesses such as selling souvenirs and gastronomies around the museum. In

that case, the city will generate more income and will help increase their economic

growth.

So far, the development of digitalization and Websites provides us many

opportunities to create different tools to replace old museum visiting with a new and

interactive ways. Creation of online promotion specifically for fans or tourists on social

media can give an impact in maximizing the essence of the museum. Gusaling Museo

is a huge establishment that offers wide variety of artifacts that symbolizes the rich

culture of Rosanians. This museum has only a small area now than before since it was

lack in attention and prioritization. Thus, in doing so the modernization and

given ideas that will lead definitely to the attraction of tourists that can cause higher

tourist visitation in the museum even than before.

3. HOW CAN NEGATIVE TRENDS BE CORRECTED AND BE IN LINE WITH THE

PROCESS’ GOALS?

Tourism has connections to other sector including politics, religion, agriculture,

economics, environment, health, finance, transport, society, immigration, and education.

All of these fields of human endeavor are constantly changing and the changes in one

field will impact on other fields like the tourism industry. All of the things that we

enumerate can’t be exempted to the negative trends that can be a hindrance to anyone.

It will just kindle a multiplier effect to any sector that can be a prompt of their fall or

danger of their field if the negative trends can’t be handle properly.

One of the sectors that can affect the tourism industry would be the health sector.

Health is one of the most important thing that the people want to be secured with. It is

also a complex field that can’t be measured or be predicted by anyone. Health can be a

reason to travel but also a contributor that will lead to disease transference that be a

great impact on the hospitality and tourism industry. There are negatives impacts

associated with health to tourism industry. This year negative trends that has a

connection to health would be Corona Virus and African swine fever, this two was the

most famous in the Philippines that cause an uproar to the people. Corona Virus is a
disease that can be transmitted thru coughing, sneezing and close contact to the person

who has that illness. This virus has been diagnosed to be in the Philippines last

December 2019 and because of this, tourists are being hinder to visit places in our

country. Moving on, Coronaviruses (CoV) are a large family of viruses that cause illness

ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East

Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-

CoV). A novel coronavirus (nCoV) is a new strain that has not been previously identified

in humans. Health issues can be a challenge or hindrance for tourist to travel. The

perceived probability that an action may expose an individual to danger can influence

travel decisions if the perceived danger is deemed to be beyond an acceptable level. In

an instant, this disease causes a lot of negative impacts to the tourism industry. For

example here in the Philippines, the people became distant and conscious of their

surroundings because they are afraid to have that disease. This scenario also affects

the province of Laguna in attaining the influx number of tourist visitation. The

Government of the Philippines banned some flights from China and other country that

are highly affected of this certain disease and because of this, the tourist arrivals from

these countries can’t easily entered our country’s premises that cause a huge impact

and lose of numbers in tourist visitation which leads into low economic growth. In this

part, the negative trend can’t be corrected and be in line to the process’ goal but it can

be prevented and minimize the effect of this virus. It is for the negative trend to not to be

a hindrance to our goals. In tourist decision-making, comprehend risks hold the greatest

influence in terms of destination selection. As the researchers, one of the method that

can be used to minimize that negative trend is to have health promotion and other
involvement action. Following precautionary safety measures that can help to lessen the

worries of the people who wants to visit the Gusaling Museom would undergo a certain

test that can keep them feel secured and protected to the virus. Starting with a thermal

screening for tourists arriving in the destination which has directed to use thermal

scanners and thermometers. Thermal screening of visitors to spot fevers caused by

infections such as NCoV, swine flu, and influenza (such as H1N1) is performed using

mass-screening systems that measure the skin temperature at high-speed using

thermal imaging and temperature measurement equipment such as the FevIR Scan.

Such quick mass-screening ensures to take security measures without causing

discomfort to the visitors. In addition, pointing out those who has the symptoms, then

immediately admitting them to the designated area that they can be check upon even if

they only have the simplest symptoms can be a big help. Hygiene measures must be

implement as well, by giving a hand sanitizer or anti - septic (Alcohol) before they enter

the premises. All arriving tourists must be screened to indicate their health status before

allowing them to enter the Gusaling Museo or any other establishments.

Those measures should be implemented to minimize the negative factors that may

affect the tourist decision making. If the tourist know how we handled the situation is

and how prepared we are in facing this kind of phenomenon, then they will be motivated

and curious on how well we did our best to secure anyone of them just to visit and

appreciate the new Gusaling Museo. Their health is our priority but we can’t back down

and be doubtful just because of this negative trend for no matter what happened, this

disease was cause by a human so human can put an end to it. So in this process,

negative trend became our motivation and opportunity to move forward and do our best
to promote the Gusaling Museo and turn this negative impact to be one of the reason on

how we achieve our goals.

4. HOW CAN THE AREA’S SUCCESS BE PRESENTED TO OTHERS,

ESPECIALLY TOURISTS?

Gusaling Museo is a hidden gem that was not been able to be showcase to the

tourist. It is where the rich history and artifacts that are used by the people living in the

town displayed. It is an old architectural building built way back on Spanish era.

Gusaling Museo may not be an eye catcher to the people but it holds a lot of history that

can be a diamond that will shine and create a huge impact to the city of Laguna.

We, the researchers concluded that to be able to make this project a success, we

propose some changes and plans that can help this attraction to be well - known and be

recognized by the people. The following statements are the proposed plan and changes

that we considered to help Gusaling Museo to be a successful tourist attraction and

pursue the tourist to visit.

1. Renovated building and more spacious space for all the artifacts to be displayed.

2. A 3D images that will showcase the beauty of the old Santa Rosa and its

historical places.

3. LED Lights that can help in highlighting every display that well make the tourist

clearly recognize all the exhibit artifacts.

4. An Observatory Room that will show a glimpse of what happened in Gusaling

Museo through the years.

will take place in Gusaling Museo.

6. Encourage the tourism office to advertise and showcase all the artifacts that are

not being shown due to lack of space.

7. A Tour Guide personnel to help the tourists understand the exhibit.

8. Best marketing strategy and promotion.

This changes and plans will be its ace to be well - known and entice more tourists.

Changes and progress are essential and needed to make this attraction be more

competitive to the tourism market. Tourist nowadays are much more attracted to places

that are has new develop attraction and new established ones. Changes are inevitable

to the people, especially tourist for they surely want to see more than what the place

can offer. Planning and marketing does not only take place for a while but it is a

continuing process to make this attraction more competitive and well developed. The

areas success can be shown to the tourists by its well manage marketing and promotion

from different advertising way like vlogs, posting thru social media and a guerilla

marketing that can captivate a lot of people especially tourist. This days, vloggings are

more on quite catchy especially if the vlogger is famous and has a nice contribution for

the people to recognize them like Wil Dasovich, Erwan Heussaff, David Guison, and

other international vloggers who love the Philippines and make their vlog out of it. They

will be a big help if we can create a partnership with them to promote and advertise the

new Gusaling Museo. Vlog is the simplest advertisement that can be an eye catcher

especially to the people who are fascinated in watching videos thru internet and

because this is an era where all the people are using the technology to gain popularity.
In this way we can easily be connected to others for the museum can be known locally

and internationally. Next would be the use of social media. Social media is also one of

the best mode of advertising especially to the people and tourists because technology

makes our lives easier and it also goes for marketing. Through this, the museum can be

known domestically and internationally because of this method. Thru social media like

Facebook or twitter we can post a lot of good things about the new Gusaling Museo that

can dazzle the people to make some interest to visit the museum. The area’s success

can also be shared by making huge tarpaulin near the plaza or even in other places

around Laguna for the local people to be aware of its presence and to engage them to

go and visit the Gusaling Museo. Promotions does not only include marketing strategies

or advertising promotions but also from the word of mouth. If tourist is satisfied from

their experience during their visit in Gusaling Museo, they would encourage other

people to visit and experience the services and the beauty of the attraction.

The Gusaling Museo was built in order to showcase and commemorate the rich

history and the good deeds of the heroes in the City of Sta. Rosa. We did this tourism

planning to come up on what are the possible ideas that can be done in order for the

tourism site to be a developed and successful tourism destination. Achievements

cannot be easily attained if you do not exert effort and planning things excellently.

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