By Othel V.
Campos | Posted on Aug. 09, 2013 at 12:01am | manilastandardtoday.com
Travel
agencies expect Northern Philippines to become the next major tourism
destination with the completion of new infrastructure projects in the area.
Philippine
Travel Agencies Association president John Paul Cabalza said the Ilocos and
Cagayan provinces had not reached their full potentials as prime tourist
destinations, even as accessibility and infrastructure in those areas improved
over the past several years.
“Northern
Philippines have a lot to offer in terms of tourism. They both have adventure and
eco-tourism. They have some of the most
pristine white beaches in the Philippines and the food there are also some of
the best in the country,” Cabalza said.
He said
Ilocos Sur, Ilocos Norte and Cagayan could easily be reached with daily flights
or buses operating in the region from Metro Manila.
PTAA recently
brought its members on a familiarization tour of Ilocos Sur and Ilocos Norte
and would soon move on to Cagayan in cooperation with the Cagayan Economic Zone
Authority.
The Cagayan
Freeport and Ecozone recently joined the travel group and was looking to the
association to assist them in reaching its target of 100,000 tourists in 2013,
up by 33 percent from visitor arrivals last year.
“Just like
what we did for Ilocos, we will also do for the province of Cagayan. We will take our members there to see the
business potential of the province and have them establish networks with local
tourism players. We want to create
awareness on the province,” Cabalza said.
Cabalza said
some members of the association started bringing travelers to Cagayan.
Cagayan
Ecozone was projecting an 80 percent to 20 percent mix in its tourist arrivals,
currently dominated by tourists from mainland China because of the gaming
facility in the economic zone.
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