A MASSIVE marketing campaign forming the centrepiece of Bohol’s recovery efforts will offer hefty discounts, new attractions, and activities for trade and consumer alike in the new year.
Coming up first under Visit Bohol 2015 is the Bohol Travel Fair in Manila from January 9 to 11, where savings of up to 60 per cent on accommodation, tours, and travel essentials will be featured. There will also be a B2B component for trade.
The new campaign will feature and promote new attractions such as the white beaches of Anda; Lamanok Island; Banacon, Asia’s largest mangrove forest; a dive festival; two international music festivals; geo-science tours covering the change in Bohol’s land mass following the earthquake; among others.
These initiatives fall under the Bohol Tourism Recovery Programme, which was spearheaded by the Philippine Department of Tourism, together with the US Agency for International Development, UN World Tourism Organization, and PATA.
Bohol Tourism Council chair, Lucas Nunag, noted that the foreign market is growing faster than the domestic market, and that investors are already coming in as construction on the new airport begins next year.
“I expect additional supply of 1,000 high-end rooms with in the next two years, including the 2015 opening of 400 rooms and 12 villas at Henann Resort Alona Beach; a 200-key property being built by Be Hotels in Panglao; additional 60 rooms at Amorita Resort; and South Palms Resort which took over two-thirds of the 60ha Bohol Beach Club,” said Nunag.
Bohol tourism stakeholders went to Thailand’s Chiang Mai to learn more about developing homestays, ecotourism, and community-based tourism in the province, he added.
