By now, we should have a couple of lessons learned ingrained in us and which serve as our driving force to stand the test of these taxing times. We can learn the ropes from our tourism sector that bravely battled the winding roads to remain sturdy. The Philippine tourism sector incessantly traversed varied possibilities as it envisages a brighter post-pandemic ready to serve the yearning nomads.
Did you know that diving is one of the prime tourism products covered in the 2016-2022 National Tourism Development Plan of the Philippines?
As they say, there is always light at the end of the tunnel. The Philippines was awarded the Best Overseas Diving Site at the September 2020 Marine Diving Awards held in Tokyo, Japan. This was the first time the country received such a prestigious award, and one of the triggers for launching PHIDEX was to highlight this triumphant milestone. More so, the Philippines was also featured in the Japan-based Marine Diving Magazine as a top choice for most diving enthusiasts. The magazine also cited that many prominent diving sites in the Philippines stole the hearts of a great number of overseas divers who are always eager to return over and over again to the country. RIGHT IMAGE CREDIT TO: FILIPINO-JAPANESE JOURNAL |
I mentioned similar points relevant to advocating low-impact tourism in my previous article Reinventing Travel with a True Purpose: The Benefits of Agricultural Tourism or Agritourism
As a result, we would be able to proudly showcase the genuine prestige of our natural resources. This is what we call a high quality standard of tourism. I believe this is what the diving tourism wants to champion on. The low-impact development method should be the ultimate goal of not just the tourism sector but of every sectoral player in the economy.
Have you visited a dive site so far? It would be good to share experiences among each other. Are you planning for your first or next dive tour soon? If you’re living nearby a stunning dive spot, why not submerge yourself profoundly into the deep as it helps to reflect and renew our well-being in today’s challenging episodes. As for would-be first-time divers, let us plan and prepare gradually keeping in mind the ethical values we can sow and the sustainable benefits we can reap by traveling responsibly.
IMAGE CREDIT TO: GUIDETOTHEPHILIPPINES.PH
Becoming a responsible traveler doesn’t cost us too much. By selflessly taking part in this endeavor and carrying out that pride for local tourism in us, magnetizes lucrative impacts to our economy which we all can relish eventually.
Here’s hoping a meaningful diving journey for every passionate wanderer soon.