Bohol is now center of new tourism loop

TAGBILARAN CITY, Philippines  —— Tourism key players are pilot-testing the Cebu-Bohol-Camiguin-Cagayan de Oro Tourism Loop to maximize the edge of having Mactan International Airport in Cebu and several connecting sea travel to the cluster of tourist attractions in these four destinations.

Lawyer Lucas Nunag, proprietor of Amarela Resort and chairman of the Provincial Tourism Council, presented the concept of the Tourism Loop during the recent Bohol Tourism Action Plan Initiative at the Bohol Beach Club in Panglao.

Nunag, also member of the board of trustee of the Bohol Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI), explained that the loop has been identified as one of the strategic actions that Bohol will pursue in order to enhance the province’s linkage to various tourism gateways, specifically Cebu and Cagayan de Oro.

The objective of this loop is to increase tourism’s local economic impact through higher spending and longer length of stay by visitors, he said.

The tour package in the tourism loop concept starts from arrival at the Mactan airport, stay in Cebu City and tour of tourist destinations in other parts of Cebu province, then sea travel to Tagbilaran Tourist Port or Tubigon or Getafe ports and a tour to tourist attractions of Bohol, before exiting through Jagna port to Mambajao—the capital town of Camiguin, and finally to Cagayan de Oro City through the Benoni-Balingoan route.

If possible, the tour package can include a trip to Bukidnon then exit to Laguindingan International Airport in Misamis Oriental, which opens this October as mentioned by President Aquino in his SONA.

The new tourism loop is also seen to maximize the 22 domestic flights and 10 international flights from Asian countries at the Mactan International Airport. It is now on the dry run by the tour, hotels and resort operators in Central Visayas.

As an offshoot to the meeting of tourism stakeholders last June 11 in Cebu, it was agreed among the PTC chairman, BCCI leaders and tourism investors from Cebu, Camiguin and CDO to come up with a tourism loop so that tourism activities will not be confined in Cebu and Bohol.

The loop extends the Visayas tourism activities to Mindanao, considering the available fast crafts from Jagna to Mindanao.

The Bohol Tourism Action Plan consolidated other plans formulated by the stakeholders of Bohol together with development partners such as the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Gesellschaftfür Internationale Zusammernarbeit (GIZ).