Boracay, other RP tourist spots featured in Aussie magazines

MANILA, Philippines – Tourism Secretary Joseph Ace Durano said Boracay and other local tourist destinations are all over magazines and other media outlets in Australia.

“We regularly invite publications that exert considerable influence over the tourist population to come and experience the country as a holiday attraction. For the Australian market, we focus on how the Philippines offers so much adventure, while being one of their nearest destinations,” Durano noted.

Sydney-based Tourism Attaché Consuelo Jones said the Department of Tourism (DOT) has coordinated with top parenting magazine Out & About With Kids, the Australian Gourmet Traveller, Luxury Travel, Spa Magazine, Life Etc. and Travel Today to feature various destinations around the islands.

Similar arrangements were made with leading newspapers Sydney Morning Herald, Sunday Telegraph Magazine, Sun-Herald and the Sunday Herald Sun, she said.

El Nido and Bohol took center stage in Out & About with Kids’ latest Autumn and Winter issues, respectively.

Premier publication for foodies and travelers alike, the Australian Gourmet Traveller’s recent feature on the Philippines highlights the country as one that is replete with culture, festivals, tranquil beaches, shopping and dining experiences.

The editors of Travel Today, a major resource for Australia’s tourism industry, recently ran a special feature on the majestic Banaue Rice Terraces.

Spa Magazine’s Summer 2008 issue provided a review on Boracay’s Mandala Spa. Author Tracey Spicer described her experience as “one spa holiday which could be truly life changing.”

Bohol’s natural wonders and attractions were the subject of Life Etc.’s Spring 2008 travel section. The bi-monthly lifestyle glossy is read widely by the 35-year-old and above market.

The DOT also worked with Australia’s Luxury Travel Magazine – the sole high-end travel publication – in developing their special Philippine supplement for the Autumn 2008 issue.

The 48-page pull-out boasts of full-color images of Manila, Boracay, Cebu, Palawan and Baguio, as well as reviews on some of the top accommodations in these locales.

With the media exposure the Philippines is getting, Durano expressed confidence that more tourists from Australia would come to the Philippines.

He noted that in the first five months of the year, Australia already recorded a 13.2 percent growth in arrivals and the figure is still expected to go up in the coming months.

House Bill 1109 opposed

Stakeholders in Boracay staged a protest yesterday to show their objection to House Bill 1109, which they claimed would put in peril the future of the tourism industry in the country.

In a press conference after the rally, residents, tourists and business owners unanimously branded House Bill 1109 as “unconstitutional and confiscatory” as it is “negligently-made.”

They said the measure is an outright threat to their “prior vested rights” on the island, which the government classifies as “forest.”

Socorro Ruchanie Gadon, chairperson of the organizing committee for the Boracay Land Owners and Stakeholders Movement, said the proposed measure, which was ironically authored by their congressman, Aklan Rep. Florencio Miraflores, would establish a “bad relationship” between the government and the locals. – With Katherine Adraneda