CamSur calling By September Grace Mahino
Not too long ago, the place was nothing much more than a province in Southern Luzon, eclipsed by its more popular neighbor, Albay (home of Mayon Volcano), in terms of being a tourist destination.
All that has changed, however, under the administration of Governor Lray Villafuerte, an awardee for the 11 Inspiring Tourism Entrepreneurs, who oversaw the rise of the CamSur Watersports Complex or CWC as the next big destination in the country. Touted as the first world-class watersports complex in the Philippines and in Asia, the CWC boasts a man-made lake and a six-point cable ski system that attracts riders and wannabe-riders in droves all-year round. In fact, Camarines Sur is fast becoming a must-visit tourist hotspot such that the CWC has become a prime venue for various celebrity watersport competitions, an alternative to the other usual summer stops, and a magnet for who’s who listers who make the regular arrival and departure rotations from both the Naga airport in Pili and the Legaspi airport.
As a last summer hurrah, CamSur’s Kaogma Festival became more than just a yearly provincial celebration and grew into a melting pot of fun-loving locals and water enthusiasts. May 25 and 26 marked the first-ever International Wakeboarding Competition, where participants from Australia and Europe flew in and joined local contenders in showing off their prowess in the water in what is turning out to be the hippest sport of the moment. The competition had its Pro/Open Men’s Division (no age restriction), Junior Men’s Division (for ages 18 and under) and Open Women’s Division (also with no age restriction) that attracted not only its share of participants and spectators but ample media coverage as well.
Aside from the action at the CWC, Pili also showcased its best products in an open market. From woven handicrafts to the sweet (yet fattening) mazipan de pili bars — someone dubbed them CamSur’s version of the Toblerone — local retailers put their goods on display, all at reasonable prices. Some may argue that a lot of the items being sold at the market can be bought in native handicraft stores in
It is to be expected that CamSur will only become more and more popular with tourists in the future; even during this year’s one-week Kaogma Festival, the province’s considerable accommodations were fully booked, a testimony to the province’s growing popularity. Aside from the usual suspects — The Mansion Suites, with its comfy rooms and proximity to the cable park, and the Ecovillage, with its picturesque houses and quaint interior designs — CamSur has also opened its single-room luxury villas, each with its own enclosure for maximum privacy, cabana suites and a kitschy trailer park, the interiors of which are, surprisingly, quite posh in a clean and somber way.
Yet what seems to be the province’s biggest draw is the people’s hospitality. Despite the long hours and the endless numbers of visitors to attend to, the tourism people as well as the attendants of each accommodation area never fail to prove that CamSur deserves its growing reputation as one of the top Philippine spots no one should miss.
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Special thanks to the Office of Gov. Lray Villafuerte. For more info on the Mansion, contact 054-4750854.
