Photo Credits : Kage Gozun

The campaign of the Department of Tourism (DoT) to make the country a premier surfing destination is beginning to get recognition. With a coastline twice as long as the United States, the Philippines is slowly but surely securing a place in the surfing world.

In cooperation with Department of Tourism, Onboard Philippines hopes to grow the local surfing industry, explore the numerous opportunities that it presents for Philippine tourism as well as empower and support the country’s growing community of local surfers, says Freddy Gonzalez of Aloha Board Sports Inc.

“With each discovery, however, one realizes that we have barely plumbed the extraordinary depths of our country’s surf culture –a facet of the Philippines that can potentially secure our place on the international tourism map,” he adds.

Gonzalez, along with the Aloha Boardsports Surf Team, plans to surf across the country’s most notable surfing destinations, which include Badoc Island in Ilocos Norte, Baler in Aurora, Catanduanes, Daet in Camarinas Norte, La Union, Pagudpud, Samar, Siargao Island, Cabugao in Ilocos Sur and Zambales.

These are only a few examples of the country’s notable surf-spots, where tales of monster swells and majestic waves are the primary lure.

The campaign will be supported by DoT Secretary Ace Durano, also an honorary Aloha Boardsports Surf Team member.

The move hopes to explore the country’s top tourism and surfing destination.

Flanked by beach-breaks powered by a living and breathing ocean, it was only a matter of time before the Philippines left its legendary mark on international surf-lore.

This is a whole new tourism wave that will bring a different segment of tourists to Philippine shores, Gonzales says.

The Philippines is already a unique tourist destination unto itself surfing is an opportunity to broaden its inherent potential to be recognized by a rising new global tourism sub-culture,” he adds.

Incoming search terms:

• philippine tourist spots
• Most beautiful beaches in the world
• palawan tourist spots
• Calicoan Island
• philippines tourist spot
• philippines tourist destination
• philippine tourist spots pictures
• palawan tourism
• palawan tourist spot
• samar beaches

The rich diversity of the area is evident when one sees the exotic species being sold. The surrounding waters support several marine based industries such as fish, seaweed, and pearl farming.

In the middle of the island are six lagoons ringed by forest, the largest being 30 hectares in size. At the cliffside margin of Calicoan’s forests are dozens of caves. On the northern tip of Calicoan are wetlands like the Everglades , teeming with fish, shrimp, and crabs.

The Calicoan Island Resorts which covers an area of 11,163 square meters or more than 11 hectares, will soon start development, as announced by Mr. Timothy Brumlick, a director of the Calicoan Island Resort Development Corporation.

Designed by Citibase Development, Inc., in conjunction with C.D. Arguelles and Associates, the Calicoan Island Resorts will soon start construction at the scenic Calicoan Island in Guiuan, Eastern Samar, facing the ground swell and wind wave Pacific Ocean on one side and the placid and flat Leyte Gulf waters at the west side, Department of Tourism Regional Office 8 Director Karina Rosa Tiopes informed.

The $150-160M resort will have the largest pool in the Philippines and will feature an eight storey 240 rooms with balconies, a casino, a medical clinic for cosmetic surgery, a sports complex and 20 private villas, functional homes in two sizes.

With the road networks of the entire resort area and the drainage systerm and water facilities already ongoing, and the communication cellsites of Globe and Smart which will start soon, the construction of the hotel will start early January 2008 and two years after, the resort will already be ready to accept tourists.

This is indeed a very good development in line with President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s thrust of making Central Philippines the Tourism Center of the Philippines under the super region strategy of development.

Photo Credits : http://www.villapacific.co.uk/

Incoming search terms:

• calicoan island resorts
• calicoan resort
• SIQUIJOR BEACHES
• calicoan samar
• island paradise images
• guiuan eastern samar white beach
• landscape beaches
• calicoan resorts
• tropical island images
• philippine sea resort

Close to a thousand jobs will cater to the long-awaited dream of many Eastern Samarenos to find employment, in time the hotel business begins in Calicoan Island of Guiuan, Eastern Samar, two years from now.

This was learned from Timothy “Tim” Brumlik, Director of Calicoan Integrated Resort Development Corporation (CIRDC) in an interview with media during the launching yesterday of the eight-storey and 250-room Comdominium Hotel which is soon to be built in this part of the region.

Brumlik, a North American, flew in to the white beach resort of Guiuan with other members of their corporation and showed to the media the blue print of their hotel which has an estimated cost of $150-160M. He added that it will sit in an 11-hectare land area with a 450-meter beach front. He also said that the hotel will need some 650 people to help in the operation of their business from managers, chefs, receptionists and room boys and assured further of the preference for local residents and Cebuanos as well, adding that Cebu is just a few minutes flight from Tacloban. He said that this accessibility was also one of the factors which encouraged them to put up the hotel business.

He further said that he and his group met President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo shortly before they proceeded to the Region to give her the updates of the hotel business. According to her President Arroyo was glad to hear the status report, it being one of her flagship programs in her “8 by 08″ Agenda. Absolutely, the American stressed that their hotel operation will be line with her “Eight Million Job Creation” advocacy before her term ends.

Brumlik projects that the Calicoan Beach and Surfing Resort will be much better than Boracay of Central Visayas. He said that aside from surfing and the white beach which is a big come-on to foreign tourists, a Yoga facility to the right side of the island (going Sulangan) will also attrack foreigners.

The friendly foreigner stressed that they can finish the hotel construction in 24-months starting January next year. At present, construction of the road network of the entire hotel site, drainage system and water facilities have been on going. Other facilities to be put in place soon are the cellphone sites of Globe and Smart. Bendoy Bagares, a fish vendor from the historic barangay Sulangan, who was among the crowd expressed excitement at how would he operate a cellphone should he buy one next year.

Asked how he would describe Calicoan in three words, Brumlik said: awesome, accessbile, doable.

Incoming search terms:

• eastern tourism philippines
• korean tourist guides jobs manila
• tourism jobs blogs