PHINMA UNIVERSITY OF ILOILO COLLEGE OF MANAGEMENT & ACCOUNTANCY HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM MANAGEMENT Iloilo City AWARENESS OF LOCAL TOURIST ON US-USAN ISLAND SIBUNAG, GUIMARAS AS A TOURIST DESTINATION A Research Paper Presented to the Faculty of the College of Management and Accountancy Hospitality and Tourism Management Program PHINMA University of Iloilo Iloilo City In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Bachelor of Science in Tourism Management by Roland Pabillo Carlo Gabriel Gasit Lyca Maarat Trisha Mae Malaza Ma. Christia Benedicto Wendy Joy Camino PHINMA UNIVERSITY OF ILOILO COLLEGE OF MANAGEMENT & ACCOUNTANCY HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM MANAGEMENT Iloilo City CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Chapter 1 is made up of five parts: (1) Background and Theoretical Framework of the Study, (2) Statement of the Problem and Hypothesis, (3) Significance of the Study, (4) Definition of Terms, (5) Delimintion of the Study. Part One, Background and Theoretical Framework of the Study, presents the underlying reasons for conducting the research and provides the framework that will serve as basis and support for the study. Part Two, Statement of the Problem and Hypotheses, states the general and specific problems as well as the hypotheses to be tested. Part Three, Significance of the Study, discusses who are going to benefit the result of the study. Part Four, Definition of Terms, discusses the conceptual and operational meaning of the terms that includes in the study. Part Five, Delimitation of the study, discusses the scope and respondents of the study. PHINMA UNIVERSITY OF ILOILO COLLEGE OF MANAGEMENT & ACCOUNTANCY HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM MANAGEMENT Iloilo City Background and Theoretical Framework of the Study Sibunag is one of the two new municipalities created in the province of Guimaras through RA 7896. Such creation was validated with COMELEC Resolution en banc after the plebiscite conducted during the May 1995 election.Situated Southeast of Guimaras Island facing Negros and is separated from that island by Guimaras Strait. It is composed of fourteen (14) barangays where the twelve (12) barangays were from the mother Municipality of Jordan and two (2) barangays were from Nueva Valencia. Sabang, San Isidro, Sebaste, Alegria, and Bubog are the coastal barangays while Maabay, Dasal, Ayangan, Ravina, Millan, Tanglad, Oracon and Concordia are the inland barangays and Inampulogan, which is an island barangay. It has a total population of 17,773 scattered among 14 barangays and a total land area approximately 147.40 square kilometer occupying 21% of the total land area of the whole province. The municipality of Sibunag has a lot of beautiful islands that has a potential for tourism development not only in the municipality of Sibunag but also in the province of Guimaras, one of those island is Us-Usan Island.(Province of Guimaras,2019) PHINMA UNIVERSITY OF ILOILO COLLEGE OF MANAGEMENT & ACCOUNTANCY HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM MANAGEMENT Iloilo City Us-usan Island lies west of Inampulogan Island off the coast of Bantigue Point. It has a reef that is reported to be larger in area than the land portion (0.212 sq. km). Its reef has a good coral cover (72.5%) with dead corals constituting smaller quantities. Coral species recorded in this area are: Turbinaria, Millepora, Acropora, massive Acropora Xestospongia, Heliopora, and Porites, Juncella, Seriatopora, Platygyra, Lobophyllia, Fungia, Sinularia table and Lobophyton. Concerted efforts of the island’s inhabitants to protect their territory (including abarangay resolution from the barangay council) have spared the reef from blast fishing. However, gleaning from reefs during low tide, sedimentation is also affecting the coral reefs.(Province of Guimaras,2019) It is important that tourist must be aware of the new attractions or destination, if they aware about the product it has a bigger chance that they purchase it. According to (Aaker 1996 and Keller 1993) stated that awareness plays important role in consumers’ decision making for three main reasons. Firstly, awareness affects consumer decision making by influencing the formation and strength of association of the concept in consumers’ minds. Second, awareness plays an PHINMA UNIVERSITY OF ILOILO COLLEGE OF MANAGEMENT & ACCOUNTANCY HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM MANAGEMENT Iloilo City important roles alternatives. Therefore, Tourism whenever Thirdly, awareness Marketing is of a consumers awareness tourism several affect choice. can SMEs predictor consider to of the their Responsible intention to implement it.(Province of Guimaras,2019) Awareness, Brand awareness refers to “what someone knows or thinks they know about a destination” (Konecnik & Gartner, 2007, p. 403). Destination awareness is not simply whether consumers have heard about a destination, but the likelihood the destinationwill appear in tourists‟ destination choice set (Crompton, 1992).Higher depth of destination awareness means potential tourists are more likely to think of a certain destination over others in travel planning. The breadth of destination awareness, on the other hand, is the range of travel purposes in which the destination name may come to mind (Keller, 1998). Higher breadth of brand awareness means potential tourists will think of certain destination across a variety of settings whenever appropriate. PHINMA UNIVERSITY OF ILOILO COLLEGE OF MANAGEMENT & ACCOUNTANCY HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM MANAGEMENT Iloilo City Theoretical Framework This study was anchored from the (Attention Schema Theory, by Taylor Webb and Michael S. A. Graziano, 2015). According to this theory, there is, of course, no actual mystery. Attention does have a real physical basis, but the mechanistic details of the process of attention are not included in the only relevant information to which the brain has access. The attention schema theory can therefore explain why a brain would conclude that such a mystery exists. The internal model of the self (S) includes information about the body and can therefore lead to reports about the physical structure of the body, but not reports about awareness. The visual representation of the apple (V) contains information about that apple and can therefore lead to reports about that apple, but not reports about awareness. The hypothesized attention schema (A), however, contains information about the way the brain attends, processes information, and facilitates action. The information in that attention schema leads the brain, in this hypothesis, to conclude it has awareness. PHINMA UNIVERSITY OF ILOILO COLLEGE OF MANAGEMENT & ACCOUNTANCY HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM MANAGEMENT Iloilo City Conceptual Framework of the Study In this study, aims to determine the level of awareness of local tourist on Us-usan Island Sibunag, Guimaras as a tourist destination. The age, sex and income status are the intervention to our independent and dependent variables. To further describe the conceptual background related to this study, the researchers’ revisit the theories that might be applicable in this study undertaken. Figure 1. Research paradigm PHINMA UNIVERSITY OF ILOILO COLLEGE OF MANAGEMENT & ACCOUNTANCY HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM MANAGEMENT Iloilo City Statement of the Problem and Hypothesis This study aims to determine the Awareness of local tourist on Us-usan Island Sibunag, Guimaras as a tourist destination. Specifically the study aims to answer the following: 1. What is the level of awareness of local tourist on Us-usan Island, Sibunag, Guimaras when respondents are taken as an entire group and classified according to: age, sex income, and civil status? 2. What is the demographic profile when respondents are taken as an entire group and classified according to: age, sex, income, civil status? 3. Are there significant difference to the level of awareness of local tourist on Us-usan Island, Sibunag, Guimaras when respondents are taken as an entire group and classified according to: age, sex, income, and civil status? Hypothesis To answer the aforementioned questions, the researcher hypotheses are the following: 1. There are no significant difference on the level of awareness of local tourist on Us-usan Island when respondents are taken as an entire group and classified according to: age, sex, income, and civil status. PHINMA UNIVERSITY OF ILOILO COLLEGE OF MANAGEMENT & ACCOUNTANCY HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM MANAGEMENT Iloilo City Significance of the Study This study aims to determine the awareness of the local tourist on Us-Usan Island , Sibunag, Guimaras as a tourist destination. It is beneficial to the following. Local Government Unit, This study will give them enough information about the awareness of local tourist on Us-usan Island as a tourist destination. Furthermore, this study will serve as planning, guide of the management provincial and officials development of in the tourism tourist destination. DOT Guimaras, This study will give them idea to formulate marketing strategy to market the Us-usan Island to attract more tourists. Local Community, The result of the study will motivate them to help the LGU in promoting the destinaton that has potential to give them a job or employment. Tourists, This study will allow them to be aware about Ususan Island as an unspoiled tourist destination of Sibunag, Guimaras. Business owners, The result of this study may motivate them to start establishing amenities, activities, accessibility that will help for tourism development of the destination. PHINMA UNIVERSITY OF ILOILO COLLEGE OF MANAGEMENT & ACCOUNTANCY HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM MANAGEMENT Iloilo City Future Researchers, The result of this study may motivate other researchers to conduct studies on awareness of local tourist on a in different destinations of the region and across the country. Definition of Terms Awareness, The quality or state of being aware, knowledge and understanding that something is happening or exists. (Meriam Webster,2023) In this study awareness is how well-known Us-Usan Island to the tourist Local tourist, A local tourist is someone who wants to go beyond the tourist traps but knows that there are reasons those attractions are so popular. A local tourist wants to truly experience what is real and authentic, and to support those that create with passion and integrity and they also wants to find what is unique about a place and what makes it worth visiting and worth experiencing.( The Local Tourist, 2017) In this study tourist refers to the person who have experienced or not experience going to the Us-Usan Island. PHINMA UNIVERSITY OF ILOILO COLLEGE OF MANAGEMENT & ACCOUNTANCY HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM MANAGEMENT Iloilo City Tourist destination, A tourist destination can be a city, town, or other area. It is dependent on the revenues accruing from tourism. It is marketed or markets itself as a place for tourists to visit. It may contain more than one tourist attractions. Destination is the basic component of tourism. Identifying and capturing the essence of the place is vital for the tourism business to do well. If an attractive place is turned into a destination, the place generates high revenue from tourism. ( Tutorials Point, 202) In this study tourist destination refers to Us-Usan Island Sibunag, Guimaras which is the location of the study. Delimitation of the Study The scope of this survey will be the local tourists that are non-residents of Guimaras. A survey will be conducted among the local tourists that can help determine the level of awareness of Us-usan Island Sibunag, Guimaras as a tourist destination. technique to The researcher obtain the will use a participants of random the sampling study. The instrument will be use in data gathering is a research-made questionnaire to gain necessary data needed in the study. PHINMA UNIVERSITY OF ILOILO COLLEGE OF MANAGEMENT & ACCOUNTANCY HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM MANAGEMENT Iloilo City The researchers will aim to survey three hundred (300) respondents to come up with an accurate results. The respondents are limited only to 18-50 years old. In this study, demographic profile (age, sex, civil status, and income) will be evaluated to determine who is more aware about Us-usan Island as a tourist destination. The limitation of our study is that our respondents are only the local tourists that are going to Guimaras. The study will take two (2) months; starting from the preparation of the study paper and instruments up to finding suitable respondents and to the analysis of data. However, the study will take another month for polishing as there would be required revisions on the paper. In order to assure manageability include of checklist collected and data, the ranking/rating include open-ended response items. questionnaire questions and only not PHINMA UNIVERSITY OF ILOILO COLLEGE OF MANAGEMENT & ACCOUNTANCY HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM MANAGEMENT Iloilo City Chapter 2 Review of the Related Literature Chapter 2 consists of five (4)parts: (1) Tourism Industry, (2) History of Sibunag, (3) Related Studies, (4) Summary Part One, Tourism Industry, discusses the state of tourism in the Philippines. Part Two, History of Sibunag, discusses about the history of Sibunag, Guimaras. Part Three, Related Studies, discusses the existing related studies of our study. Part Four, Summary, dicusses the whole summary of this chapter. PHINMA UNIVERSITY OF ILOILO COLLEGE OF MANAGEMENT & ACCOUNTANCY HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM MANAGEMENT Iloilo City Tourism Industry The tourism sector is a key contributor to the resilience of the Philippines’ external payments position and overall economic development, alongside overseas Filipino (OF) remittances and business process outsourcing. As one of the country’s biggest employers, it provides various opportunities for businesses and individuals from all segments of society and supports sustained structural foreign exchange (FX) inflows. But given the contactintensive nature of the tourism sector, it has been significantly hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. Nonetheless, prospects for recovery in travel services are improving amid accelerated mass inoculation and easing of travel restrictions. The country’s tourism sector felt the negative impact of the pandemic much earlier in 2020, as countries started to impose travel restrictions and measures as early as January 2020. Both the country’s international tourist arrivals and tourism receipts fell by about 80 percent in 2020 and by about 90 percent in 2021. The Department of Tourism (DOT) is forecasting the recovery of the country’s domestic travel sector by 2022 at PHINMA UNIVERSITY OF ILOILO COLLEGE OF MANAGEMENT & ACCOUNTANCY HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM MANAGEMENT Iloilo City the earliest (Table 1), when demand returns to 90 percent of the 2019 level, and by 2024 at the latest. The DOT is focusing on the recovery of the tourism sector through the promotion of domestic travel, with many overseas source markets still closed.10 This is consistent with Oxford Economics’ projection that domestic visitors are to exceed pre-pandemic levels in 2022. On the other hand, inbound travel is seen to recover in 2024 or 2025 for some individual destinations. Oxford Economics estimates that domestic travel will account for 80 percent of tourists this year, 60 percent higher than pre-pandemic levels. (Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas,2019) History Profile of Sibunag Guimaras Even before it was created as separate Local Government Unit, Sibunag is named after its main river, abounds with spellbinding folktales and legends.The tragic story of Guima and Aras (popularized by Guimaras writer, Romeo G. Garganera) happened in the shores of Sibunag as the ill-fated lovers desperately crossed the stormy sea to Baglas, now Negros, to escape the wrath of an angry father.Legend also says that Sibunag, son of a deity and a mortal was stolen when only a baby. He was cared for and raised by a fairy. His numerous and amazing adventures and romance found niche in the hearts PHINMA UNIVERSITY OF ILOILO COLLEGE OF MANAGEMENT & ACCOUNTANCY HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM MANAGEMENT Iloilo City of folklore writers. Sibunag river remains even today, not only the main source of gravel and sand supply of the province but also an important waterway from the mainland Guimaras to the island waters where the longest river in Guimaras could be seen with its tributaries originate from the springs of the three mountains of Dinalman, Bontoc and Tigbi, strategically located in Barangay Millan. By mouth of Sibunag River are wide areas of fishponds. Along its shorelines to Alegria and San Isidro are sources of bangus fry, bulgans, talakitok, mayamaya, kanlay, crustaceans kamuntaha, lobsters, prawns and especially the seashells.(Province of Guimaras, 2019) Related Studies Towards a Conceptual Framework of Tourists' Destination Knowledge and Loyalty Previous literature has suggested that brand knowledge, in terms of brand awareness and image, could strengthen brand loyalty . For instance “high levels of brand awareness and a positive brand image should increase the probability of brand choice, as well as produce greater consumer (and retailer) loyalty and decrease vulnerability to competitive marketing PHINMA UNIVERSITY OF ILOILO COLLEGE OF MANAGEMENT & ACCOUNTANCY HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM MANAGEMENT Iloilo City actions.” Aaker (1992) maintained that five brand equity assets (brand quality, brand loyalty, brand awareness, image/associations, and perceived other brand proprietary assets) are sources of the value that brand equity creates for brand-owners. He suggested that insome cases (though not always), loyalty can be influenced by or result from brand awareness and brand image, as well as other brand equity assets. A general framework is hence developed based on the linkage between destination knowledge and loyalty. Theoretically, brand awareness is also believed to be related to loyalty. conceptualization, brand Following awareness Keller‟s and brand (1993) image may influence brand loyalty in a separate and parallel manner. Somewhat surprisingly, the literature is also divided on the relationship between brand awareness and image. On one hand, since no image may exist without prior awareness, it may be argued that brand awareness is an antecedent of image, and holding a certain level of brand awareness is a prerequisite for image formation. Keller (1993) pointed out that “brand awareness affects consumer decision making by influencing the formation and strength of brand associations in the brand image.” On the other hand, one might argue that different level of awareness could hardly predict the valence of one‟s PHINMA UNIVERSITY OF ILOILO COLLEGE OF MANAGEMENT & ACCOUNTANCY HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM MANAGEMENT Iloilo City destination image. Milman and Pizam‟s (1995) study revealed that destination-aware positive image destination. than All in respondents those all, it who did were seems not not have aware awareness a more of the provides a necessary, though not sufficient condition for the creation of a brand image. It seems more discussion and empirical evidence are needed to clarify the relationship between awareness and image. ( Xiang Li, James Petrick, Yuan Zhou, 2008) The Role of Tourist Attitude Toward Destination Awareness, Destination Personality And Future Visit Intention In marketing science, brands can determine how strong a product is in the market compared to other competitors. In general, companies can create a position for their products in the market by creating awareness of the existence of these products, which is commonly known as brand awareness. This concept was then adopted into tourism science that is known as destination awareness. According to Milman and Pizam (1995), destination awareness is defined as whether someone hears about a tourist destination or the first tourist destination that comes to someone’s mind when going on a trip. Awareness is knowledge of the existence of something (Niekerk PHINMA UNIVERSITY OF ILOILO COLLEGE OF MANAGEMENT & ACCOUNTANCY HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM MANAGEMENT Iloilo City and Saayman, 2013). The effect of destination awareness is not only felt when choosing a destination, but also affects the tourist attitude in general (Chang and Shin, 2004). This study resulted in three findings. Firstly, the relationship among destination awareness, tourist attitude, and future visit intention. Destination awareness has a positive and significant effect in forming tourist attitude. On the other hand, destination awareness has a positive but not significant effect on future visit intention. This indicates that the higher the awareness of tourists about a tourist destination, the more positive their attitude towards the destination and the stronger their intention to visit it in the future. conducted by awareness can This Milman finding and generate is Pizam an in line (1995), interest with which in the study found that something that encourages the intention to visit a destination. A study conducted by Isa and Ramli (2014) found that destination awareness is a factor that influences tourists to visit a destination This study's findings contrast with Junaedi and Harjanto (2020), who discovered that destination awareness PHINMA UNIVERSITY OF ILOILO COLLEGE OF MANAGEMENT & ACCOUNTANCY HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM MANAGEMENT Iloilo City can directly influence tourist visit intention. The tourist's intention is not immediately affected by destination awareness. Other variables are required to bridge this gap in order to improve tourist visit intent based on destination awareness.( Ersy Ervina and Vany Octaviany, 2022) The Role of Awareness and Familiarity with a Destination: The Central Florida Case The aim of differentialimages destination and this that to test study was travelers whether to analyze have of consumer a the tourist awareness and familiarity with a vacation destination had an impact on their image of the destination, their interest in the destination, and the likelihood of visiting it. For the purpose of this study, awareness was operationally defined as having heard of or recognizing the name of a vacation destination. Familiarity was defined as having previously visited the destination. The concepts of image, awareness, and familiarity were evaluated in the context of Central Florida This study is based on the theoretical background of the consumer’s buying process incorporating PHINMA UNIVERSITY OF ILOILO COLLEGE OF MANAGEMENT & ACCOUNTANCY HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM MANAGEMENT Iloilo City product awareness, familiarity, interest, and purchase. Using a sample of 750 U.S. households, a series of hypotheses were tested to analyze whether consumer awareness and familiarity with Central Florida as a vacation destination had an impact on the consumer’s destination image and on the interest and likelihood to visit it. The results indicate that those who were familiar with Central Florida (i.e., had previously visited it) had a more positive image of the destination and were more interested in and likely to revisit it than those who were only aware of the destination. However, contrary to our expectations, interest or likelihood to visit Central Florida was not significantly higher among those who were aware of Central Florida as a tourist destination than those who were not aware of it. For this case, it is possible to conclude that as consumers move from the awareness stage to the familiarity stage their interest and likelihood to visit increase, although the same may not be true when consumers move from the nonawareness to the awareness stage.( Ady Milman and Abraham Pizam, 2017) PHINMA UNIVERSITY OF ILOILO COLLEGE OF MANAGEMENT & ACCOUNTANCY HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM MANAGEMENT Iloilo City Level of Awareness of Filipinos to Different Philippine Tourist Destination The main objective of this study is to determine the Level of awareness of Filipinos to different Philippine tourist destination. The researcher suggests that not all Filipino know all the Philippine tourist spots and how it can affect the Philippines tourism industry. Not only that it create job opportunities but also promote peace not only among nations but more precisely within the country to create better understanding and unity among its citizens. One can never fully understand the culture of people from other regions of the country Whatever is without taught spending in the time school in such would destination. definitely not sufficient to the understanding of the student without actual impression to the culture of the particular region. So the researcher will be conducting a research to know how Filipino view own tourist destination or spots and measure their level of awareness in Philippine tourism. In terms of accessibility the respondents strongly agree that money can be basis to have a travel experience which is 4.54. This statement is followed by statement no. 3 and 4 with the weighted mean of 4.4. And it is followed by statement PHINMA UNIVERSITY OF ILOILO COLLEGE OF MANAGEMENT & ACCOUNTANCY HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM MANAGEMENT Iloilo City no. 1 which is 4.02. And lastly, is statement no. 2 with the mean of 3.88. Respondents believed that Filipinos are hospitable. They are familiar with different tourist destination by browsing the social media. Most of the respondents wish to visit the different sceneries in our country if given a chance. Financial aspect is important to travel the different tourist destination.(Daisy Segui, 2018) Summary This part of the study focuses in summarizing the related literature and related studies, that includes tourism sector, history of sibunag, and related studies. The tourism Philippines' sector external is a payments key contributor position and to the economic development, but has been significantly hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Department of Tourism (DOT) is forecasting the recovery of the domestic travel sector by 2022 at the earliest, when demand returns to 90% of the 2019 level, and by 2024 at the latest. Oxford Economics estimates that PHINMA UNIVERSITY OF ILOILO COLLEGE OF MANAGEMENT & ACCOUNTANCY HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM MANAGEMENT Iloilo City domestic travel will account for 80% of tourists this year, 60% higher than pre-pandemic levels. Sibunag is known for its folktales and legends, such as the tragic story of Guima and Aras and the story of Sibunag, the son of a deity and a mortal who was stolen and raised by a fairy. It is also an important waterway from the mainland to the island waters, with fishponds and crustaceans. Previous literature has suggested that brand knowledge, in terms of brand awareness and image, could strengthen brand loyalty. Aaker (1992) suggested that five brand equity assets (brand loyalty, brand awareness, perceived brand quality, brand image/associations, and other proprietary assets) are sources of the value that brand equity creates for brandowners. Theoretically, brand awareness is also believed to be related to loyalty, but the relationship between brand awareness and brand image. The Role of Tourist Attitude Toward Destination Awareness, Destination Personality And Future Visit Intention discovered that destination awareness can directly influence tourist visit intention. Other variables are needed to improve tourist visit intent based on destination awareness. This study “The Role of Awareness and Familiarity with a Destination: The Central Florida Case”, showed that those PHINMA UNIVERSITY OF ILOILO COLLEGE OF MANAGEMENT & ACCOUNTANCY HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM MANAGEMENT Iloilo City who were familiar with Central Florida had a more positive image of the destination and were more interested in and likely to revisit it than those who were only aware of the destination. The study “Level of Awareness of Filipinos to Different Philippine Tourist Destination”, founds that money can be used to have a travel experience, and that Filipinos are hospitable and familiar with different tourist destinations. Most respondents wish to visit the different sceneries in our country if given a chance. Financial aspect is important to travel the different tourist destination. PHINMA UNIVERSITY OF ILOILO COLLEGE OF MANAGEMENT & ACCOUNTANCY HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM MANAGEMENT Iloilo City Chapter 3 Methodology This section presents the (1) Purpose of the Study and Research Design, (2) Methods, and (3) Data Analysis Procedure. Part One, Purpose of the Study and Research Design, restates the main purpose of the study and describes the research design. Part Two, Method, introduces the respondents, the research instruments, and the procedures involved in the conduct of the study. Part Three, Data Analysis Procedure, enumerates and provides brief description on the use of different statistical tools in the analysis of the data. PHINMA UNIVERSITY OF ILOILO COLLEGE OF MANAGEMENT & ACCOUNTANCY HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM MANAGEMENT Iloilo City Purpose of the study and Research Design This study was entitled “Awareness of local tourist on Ususan Island Sibunag Guimaras as a tourist destination ”. The study aims to determine the level of awareness of local tourist on Us-usan Island Sibunag, Guimaras. Research design was a scheme or plan of action for meeting the objectives of the study (Ardales, 2001). The appropriate research design for this study was a descriptive method. Descriptive Research was appropriate for studies which aimed to find out what prevail in the present condition or relationships, held opinion and beliefs, process and effects, and developing trends (Calmorin, 1995). According to Subong (2005), descriptive method was in the literal sense of describing situations or events, was the accumulation of a data base that was solely descriptive but may also aimed for more powerful purposes like (a) Seek or explain relationships, (b) Test hypothesis, (c) make predictions, (d) Get at meanings and implications. It was used only when one would like to describe a group of individuals or describe the data that have been collected; to make a description of variables that were categorized in order to determine the measure of a certain dependent variable that was to be measured. In PHINMA UNIVERSITY OF ILOILO COLLEGE OF MANAGEMENT & ACCOUNTANCY HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM MANAGEMENT Iloilo City general, this type of statistics was devoted to summarization and description of data sets. It is a quantitative research method that attempts to collect quantifiable information for statistical analysis of the population sample. It is a popular market research tool that allows us to collect and describe the demographic segment’s nature. In this study the researchers aim to know the level of awareness of local tourist on Us-usan Island, Sibunag Guimaras as a tourist destination. Method Respondents of the Study This study will be conducted at the Jordan, Guimaras specifically at the Jordan wharf baranggay Rizal, Jordan Guimaras. The respondents of the study are (300) people that are non-residents of Guimaras, specifically local tourist that coming from outside of Guimaras province. The sampling technique that will use in this study is the random sampling. The random sampling technique was used to obtain the participants in the study. In this technique, the researchers used survey questionnaires to determine purest form of sampling under the probability approach the PHINMA UNIVERSITY OF ILOILO COLLEGE OF MANAGEMENT & ACCOUNTANCY HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM MANAGEMENT Iloilo City which provides equal chances of being picked for each member of the target population. Data Gathering Instrument The instrument used in data gathering was a research-made questionnaire in order to gain necessary data needed in the study. The instrument will be use to determine the level of awareness of the local tourists on Us-usan Island Sibunag, Guimaras as a tourist destination. The instrument will be divided into two parts. Part 1 are the secured information such as name, age, sex and civil status, income status, educational attainment of the respondents. However, the respondent may choose to write or not to write his/her name. Part 2 wil be the questionnaire about the level of awareness of local tourist on Us-usan Island Sibunag Guimaras. It contained 25 questions that are statement base. The researcher will be use the 5 Likert scale in which the respondents were ask to check the column that corresponds to their answer as indicated in the descriptive scale with the corresponding weight, fully aware (5), aware (4), neither aware or not aware(3), not aware (2), fully not aware (1) PHINMA UNIVERSITY OF ILOILO COLLEGE OF MANAGEMENT & ACCOUNTANCY HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM MANAGEMENT Iloilo City To interpret the scores, the following scale of means and their description will be used: Scale Interpretation 1.00 - 1.79 - Fully not aware 1.80 - 2.59 - Not aware 2.60 - 3.39 - Neither aware or not aware 3.40 - 4.19 – Aware 4.20 -5.00 - Fully aware Means of interpretation Fully aware means possesses proficiency and knowledge on Us-usan Island, Sibunag, Guimaras as a tourist destination. Aware means have adequate knowledge on Us-usan Island, Sibunag, Guimaras as a tourist destination. Neither aware or not aware means have knowledge on Ususan Island, Sibunag, Guimaras as a tourist destination. Not aware means don’t have adequate knowledge on Us-usan Island, Sibunag, Guimaras as a tourist destination. Fully not aware means have not posses proficiency and knowledge on Us-usan Island, Sibunag, Guimaras as a tourist destination. PHINMA UNIVERSITY OF ILOILO COLLEGE OF MANAGEMENT & ACCOUNTANCY HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM MANAGEMENT Iloilo City Data Gathering Procedure The original title proposed by the researchers will be checked, revised and rechecked by the researcher’s professor to maintain conformity on the subject of research. The questionnaire aims to have a proper response of the purpose of the study will be presented and checked by the research adviser to ensure validity. Permit to conduct research and study will be secured through a letter requesting permission from the DOT Guimaras. The researchers will ask permission from the respondents to answer the questionnaire was also secured. The researchers will retrieve and check the accomplish instruments to ensure that the items were answered appropriately. The data that will be gathered from the answered questionnaire will be checked, classified, tabulated and analyzed according to descriptive research design discussed in the chapter. Data Analysis Procedure To establish the validity of questionnaires in this study, the survey questionnaire was submitted to the research PHINMA UNIVERSITY OF ILOILO COLLEGE OF MANAGEMENT & ACCOUNTANCY HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM MANAGEMENT Iloilo City instructor for correction and approval of the study before distributing to the respondents. Before the questionnaire was given out to the respondents for reliability testing, the researcher secured a written permission. The researcher conducted the testing of the questionnaire to a group of 30 local tourists. The data that will be obtained will be subjected to the following descriptive analysis, concerned with escribing, summarizing, and identifying patterns through calculating existing data, like mean, median, mode, percentage, frequency and range. The researchers used the following statistical tools in the analysis and interpretation of the data: Frequency respondents count. in the Determines study that the have total been number of classified the by according to different factors. Percentage analysis. The percentage analysis will be employed to determine the ratio of the subjects who responded to the items and to the total number of respondents. PHINMA UNIVERSITY OF ILOILO COLLEGE OF MANAGEMENT & ACCOUNTANCY HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM MANAGEMENT Iloilo City Mean. The mean will be used to determine the level of awareness of local tourist on Us-usan Island Sibunag, Guimaras as a tourist destination. Among the measures of central tendency the mean were used, according to Guilford(2000) mean is considered as the most reliable or accurate measures of the central value, it ordinarily fluctuates less widely than the median and the mode. T-Test. To find out the significant difference in level of awareness of local tourist on Us-usan Island. According to Bevans, Rebecca (2020) a t-test is a statistical test that is used to compare the means of two groups. It is often used to determine whether a process or treatment actually has an effect on the population of interest, or whether two groups are different from one another. ANOVA. To find out the significant difference of the socio-economic variables. According to Kenton, Will (2021) analysis of variance or anova is a tool used in statistics that splits an observed aggregate variability found inside a data set factors. into two parts: systematic factors and random