[ Manila Bulletin Online ] June 18, 2008
By MALOU M. MOZO
CEBU CITY — Although the Philippines has a strong potential as a magnet for local and foreign bird watching enthusiasts, the major obstacle lies on the need for a "professional" investor to run and manage a bird sanctuary, an industry leader said.
Cebu Association of Tour Operators (CATO) former president Alice Queblatin said the country is slowly gaining a reputation as a bird-watching destination among foreign tourists.
But she lamented the lack of private investors willing to maintain and operate a bird sanctuary.
Citing the Cebu’s famous Olanggo bird sanctuary in Mactan, Cebu, she said, the place was well monitored and organized by the Coastal Resource Management Program as a "community-based tourism project" up until 2006.
However, in the last two years, sustainability in terms of the sanctuary’s management has slowly "deteriorated," she said.
Queblatin said CATO is pushing its advocacy to preserve our environment, including the species inhabiting it, so as to make the Philippines an ecotourism hot spot in the region.
Earlier, Tourism Secretary Joseph "Ace" Durano highlighted bird-watching as a new tourism package that is expected to attract more affluent tourists to the country, especially the Europeans, who are also among the fastest growing foreign visitors today.
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