Abstract
Abstract. Tangbo River is an important resource in Cebu’s southern town of Samboan for being the site of Aguinid Falls, a known tourist destination. Monitoring the changes in the river’s riparian vegetation is important since it has impacts on its ecological role of helping maintain biodiversity and river water quality. This study aims to detect vegetation index changes along the Tangbo River corridor using three vegetation indices: NDVI, EVI, NDMI, and Tasseled Cap indices, specifically for the years 1998, 2004, 2009, 2016, and 2019. It also aims to monitor the changes in NDVI and EVI values alongside tourism arrivals in Aguinid in 2018.Cloudless Landsat 5 (1998, 2004, 2009, and 2016) and Landsat 8 (2019) imagery were selected. Thirty reference points were plotted along the river with a 30-m distance between each point. Vegetation Indices (VI) and Tasseled Cap values were generated using data from these points and were compared for each selected year. NDVI and EVI values from the same reference points used in Landsat were generated from selected cloudless months of 2018 Planetscope imagery. Inbound tourist records were acquired from the tourism office of Samboan and the tourism arrivals for the year 2018 was then graphed with the Planetscope VI values for better visualization.Landsat imagery showed that there was a general upward trend in the vegetation indices from 1998 to 2019. Tasseled Cap Greenness and Wetness showed an increase in values from 1998–2019 while Tasseled Cap Brightness showed the opposite. Results from Planetscope data for the year 2018 showed that there was an inverse pattern between NDVI and tourism arrivals. Tourism arrivals peaked during the months of April and May based on annual records, while VI values dropped. On the other hand, both VI values peaked towards the last quarter of the year while tourist numbers dropped. This suggests that the pattern of VI values and tourism arrivals seemed to be influenced by seasonal changes rather than with each other. Findings from the study shows that further data collection is required to be able to establish a relationship between tourism and vegetation index values.
Highlights
1.1 Background of the studyTourism creates a sharing of knowledge between communities to promote a better understanding of cultures and the environment
The site experienced a boom in tourism when it won an award for being the best ecotourism experience in the province which heightened interest around the area (Tizon, 2019)
Following the above-mentioned procedures, the values of the vegetation and tasselled cap indices in specific points plotted along the riparian vegetation of Tangbo River were generated for the years 1998, 2004, 2009, 2016 and 2019 respectively
Summary
Tourism creates a sharing of knowledge between communities to promote a better understanding of cultures and the environment. It has become one of the sectors of the economy that developing countries have relied on since it has created more employment opportunities for locals (Dritsakis and Agorastos, 1999). Ecotourism, a subsector of tourism, involves visiting a more natural environment, as tourists want to be more environmentally aware, to seek adventure, or to appreciate culture that is foreign to them (Fennell, 2003). The Philippines has seen a steady increase in its GDP, due in part to the tourism boom in the country (Business World, 2018). The site experienced a boom in tourism when it won an award for being the best ecotourism experience in the province which heightened interest around the area (Tizon, 2019)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
