Chapter I

THE PROBLEM

Introduction

Travel and tourism have been an important social activity of human beings for the

past decades. In simple terms, tourism is the act of travel for the purpose of leisure.

Tourism is motivated by the natural urge of every human being for new experience,

adventure, education, and entertainment.

According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, tourism is defined as the practice of

travelling for recreation. Because of globalization, the tourism industry has become one

of biggest industries in the world and even though the industry suffered a strong

economic slowdown in the late-2000s recession, between the second half of 2008 and the

end of 2009, the industry has slowly recovered.

Statista.com stated that the tourism industry is worth over 7.6 trillion U.S. dollars

as of 2016. The tourism industry covers a lot of specific businesses in the market but in

its broadest sense, the tourism industry is the total of all businesses that directly provide

goods or services to facilitate business, pleasure and leisure activities away from the

home environment. All around the world numerous countries are benefiting from tourism

and some countries even rely on their tourism industry to keep their economy stable.

Countries such as Aruba, Maldives, and the British Virgin Islands are examples of

countries that rely on their tourism to keep their economy stable. Macau, an

Administrative Region of China, is by far the area of the world most reliant on tourism;
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their tourism industry makes up 43.9% of its economy, bringing in roughly $26.6 billion

in revenue.

The Philippines is an archipelago country that comprises over 7,000 islands and is

very active when it comes to tourism. Geographically, the country is very well placed for

tourism, being near all the other south east Asian countries and also relatively close to the

country of China which makes it an ideal stop by and jumping off port for aircrafts and

ships. (United Nations World Tourism Organization)

According to the Philippine Statistics Authority or PSA (June 2018) the tourism

industry of the Philippines contributed to 12.2 percent of the country’s economy in 2017.

There are a lot of places in the Philippines that rely on tourism. Albay, Sulu, and Palawan

area few of the tourist hot spots of the Philippines. Each tourist spot is known for

something special, for example Albay has the Mayon Volcano, but among all the other

tourist hot spots in the Philippines one area stands out from the rest, for being a heritage

site, the Vigan City.

Vigan City is known for its different man-made tourist spots, rich culture, and

tradition which attract international and local tourists. The Spanish era buildings that can

be seen around Vigan City are arguably the most important tourist attraction the city has,

as these are the most visual connection to the history of Vigan. The importance of the

Spanish era buildings cannot be understated as the local government continues to

preserve the Spanish era aesthetic of the city, to the point as to new buildings are

encouraged to incorporate Spanish era designs. Advertising is one of the most effective

and important ways to get tourists to visit. Vigan City, for example, advertises itself
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through television, radio, and social media, but new technologies are rising, technologies

such as Virtual Reality or VR, and such a technology has much to offer.

Virtual Reality (VR) is perhaps the most talked about computer-related innovation

of this decade. It is an innovation that has revolutionized the digitized world in ways that

were completely unimaginable for humans decades ago. A medium that puts people

inside of the media.

This is a useful way of challenging attitudes towards heritage sites and to

encourage more people to visit and take part. The use of interactive technologies such as

virtual reality has changed some perceptions about the real things around us (Alba, A.,

2014).

According to Woodford (2017), VR is becoming an increasingly important tool

for the popularization of cultural heritage. A great deal of 3D interactive reconstructions

of monuments and entire sites have been realized which meet the consent of both

specialist and public at large.

Alba, A. (2014), Creating 3D virtual worlds is being credited as the most

affordable, dynamic, and interactive option for integrating the environment and the

knowledge associated with a culture. Such virtual reconstructions have become very

popular in the past years, offering visitors the possibility of being immersed in a digital

world. VR technologies offer users the possibility of experiencing 3D-reconstructed

heritage sites as a visitor, traveler, or even as a resident.

Using Virtual Reality as a medium for promoting culture, products, and tourist

spots can be more entertaining. It is on this note that the researchers designed an
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application that would promote the heritage city of Vigan and would save tourists from

hassle by being misinformed on what the city can offer.

History of Vigan

Vigan was a coastal trading post long before the Spaniards arrived. Chinese

traders sailing from the South China Sea came to Isla de Vigan (Island of Vigan) via the

Mestizo River that surrounded it. On board their ships were seafaring merchants who

came to trade goods from other Asian kingdoms in exchange for gold, beeswax, and other

mountain products brought by the indigenous peoples from the Cordillera region

(Wikipedia).

In the book The Philippine Island (Vol. III, p. 276, Blair and Robertson) two

letters from Governor-General Guido de Lavezaris to King Philip II of Spain mention: "It

seemed best to send Captain Juan de Salcedo with 70 or 80 soldiers to explore the coast

of Los Ilocanos on the shores of the river called Bigan." The Spaniards led by Salcedo

marched north from Manila on May 20, 1572. They arrived in Vigan on June 13, 1572.

Thus, after the successful expedition and the exploration of the North, Juan de

Salcedo founded "Villa Fernandina de Vigan" in honor of King Philip II’s son, Prince

Ferdinand, who died at the age of four. From Vigan, Salcedo rounded the tip of Luzón

and proceeded to pacify Camarines, Albay, and Catanduanes. As a reward for his services

to the King of Spain, Salcedo was awarded the old province of Ilocos, which consisted of

the modern provinces of Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, Abra, La Union and part of Mountain

Province as his hacienda (estate), and was accorded the title of Justicia Mayor de esta

Provincia de Ylocos (Province Mayor of Ilocos).

In 1574, Salcedo returned to the capital of his encomienda (trusteeship), Vigan,

bringing with him his soldiers and some Augustinian missionaries to pioneer the

evangelization of the Ilocos region. He established a Spanish city for the purpose of

controlling the neighboring country.

Governor General Gómez Pérez Dasmariñas, in his account of encomienda dated

in Manila on May 31, 1591, states: "The town of Vigan called Villa Fernandina consisted

of Spanish settlers; a priest; a Justice Alcalde Mayor (Governor); and a Deputy. The King

collects 800 tributes (equivalent to 3,200 subjects)." During this period, Vigan was

composed of 19 barrios (districts).

Between 1645 and 1660, Vigan was divided into 21 Cabezas de Barrio (Town

Mayors) as mentioned in the Libro de Casamiento (Book of Marriage); from the records

of the parish house of Vigan found in its archives. Separated from the indigenous

population, the Chinese migrants were residents in a neighborhood called El Pariancillo,

los Sangleyes del Parian (The Sangleyes of the Parian); and the Spanish settlers were

residents in a town called Los Españoles de la Villa (The Town Spaniards).

During the Philippine Revolution, revolutionary forces under Manuel Tinio,

supported by the Ilocano rebels, attacked and defeated the Spanish colonial forces and

captured the city in the Siege of Vigan. During the Philippine-American War, American

forces led by Commander McCracken and Lt. Col. James Parker occupied the town in

Nov. 1899.

At the start of World War II, Vigan was one of the first places in the Philippines

invaded by Japan on 10 December 1941. In 1945, combined U.S. and Philippine

Commonwealth ground troops, aided by Ilocano resistance fighters, defeated the

Japanese Imperial forces and liberated Vigan. In 1999, Vigan was listed by UNESCO as

the best-preserved example of Spanish colonial towns in Asia. Its architecture is the

conglomeration of cultural elements from the Philippines, China, and Spain, making it

unique in the world. On December 7, 2014, Vigan was named as one of the

New7Wonders Cities.
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Figure 1
Research Locale

W E

CALLE CRISOLOGO
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Statement of the Objectives

This study aimed to develop a virtual reality application that will showcase the

Vigan City particularly Calle Crisologo.

Specifically, it sought to accomplish following objectives:

1. Identify the current ways of providing tourism information about Calle

Crisologo;

2. Develop the application using agile software process methodology;

3. Determine the quality of the virtual reality application in terms of:

a. Functionality,

b. Reliability, and

c. Usability.

Significance of the Study

This study aimed to develop an immersive application to promote Vigan City. It is

expected to benefit the following stakeholders:

Vigan City. The application will help attract tourists to Calle Crisologo. It will

also increase the digital presence of Vigan City to the world.

Tourist. The application will bring fun to the tourists while acquiring knowledge

and information about what the city’s tourism can offer.

The Community. The application is a good way of promoting the tourism of

Vigan city and also establishing a presence in a medium thus attracting more tourists,

resulting in more income for the people in the community.

The Researchers. This has enhanced the researcher’s skills in programming as

well as their creativity on how to integrate Vigan tourism in the application.

Future Researchers. This study will serve as a substantial reference for future

researchers who wish to develop games and applications specifically virtual reality.

Scope and Delimitation

The scope of the application revolves in promoting awareness of the cultural

heritage of Vigan City. The application allows the user to traverse and interact with a

virtual model of Calle Crisologo and prompting useful information at the user’s request.

The application is able to take inputs from the user to calculate his/her height.

Blender, a professional free and open-source 3D computer graphics software

toolset is used to create the applications models, while unity a cross-platform game

engine for creating games and apps on multiple platforms will be used to build the

application itself. The application also has a User Interface Menu (UIM) that can be

accessed by the user via movements or key inputs. The UIM will allow the user to adjust

the applications audio, and video, to select the tourist spot, and to exit the application

The Delimitations of the application is a single user only it does not have multi-

user capabilities. The application also has few inaccuracies as a full 3d model cannot be

achieved in the time that is provided for the study and also because of inaccessible parts

of the city. The building in the application cannot be entered as that would require greater

performance that the researchers’ equipment cannot handle.