by anyajulia | Jul 26, 2008 | Features, Local News / Bohol Balita, Tourism
On the 25th of July 2008, tourism and fashion were given a big boost at the Sandugo Showcase.
At 2:00 pm, near the National Bookstore, the Presentation for Emerging Tourist Destinations started. Different organizations were able to showcase their tourist destinations as well as the local products and services that they provide. The presenters were Negros Oriental, E.A.T Danao, Siquijor, Abatan, Anda and BANGON.
Tour Operators from Bohol were invited to the presentation: the Bohol Federation of Tour Operators (BOFETO) and the Bohol Society of Travel Agency (BSTA).
While later on, at 5:30 pm, The Inabanga Raffia Fashion Show, which is a project of the Municipality of Inabanga, ramped its way to the audience’s sights. The fashion show revolved around the Raffia-made products, like bags and mats, of different colors and designs.
by anyajulia | Jul 25, 2008 | Business, Local News / Bohol Balita, Tourism
On the afternoon of July 24, 2008, the Bohol Food Safety Team -a project of the Integrated Technology System & Support Amenities for Food Enterprises (ITS SAFE), was launched at the Island City Mall Activity Center. The event was opened up by a presentation of the ITS SAFE Project. Afterwards, a talk show followed with Mr. Norris Oculam, Mr. Fortunato Lim, and Ms. Pureza Chatto of the Bohol Chamber of Commerce and Industry; and Arnold Labunog of PROFOOD. The theme of the talk show was “The Food Safety Movement and its Importance to Bohol’d Tourism Industry.”
The Bohol Food Safety Team will make sure that all can avail of the services for product development, and that when the product gets to the consumer, it is still safe to eat. Food Safety is not only important to tourists since all of us eat. Bohol has an industry where the consumer profile is not only local but international as well.
It is only Bohol that has a Food Safety Team.
After the talk show, there was an introduction of the Food Safety Team and an MOA Signing.
by anyajulia | Jul 23, 2008 | Features, Headlines, Local News / Bohol Balita, Tourism
On the 23rd -27th of July this year, the Sandugo Regional Product and Raw Material Showcase, which was titled “The Visayan Creative Fusion”, was held at the Island City Mall.
There were many organizations that joined the event. Each booth was grouped into sections depending on the products they were exhibiting. The Handcrafted Section was the one with most booths; displaying mostly accessories, bags and shoes made up of different indigenous materials.
There was also the Woven Products Section with booths displaying products woven from their organization’s specialty raw material.
The booths in the Agriculture Section were displaying information and organically grown products like fruits, vegetables, etc.
Also, there was the Tourism Section where booths displayed the products and tourist attractions of the organization’s destination.
And lastly, there was the IT section, that was composed of only two booths: the Bohol Infomation and Communcation Technology (ICT )Council and the auza.net.
Auza.net is a technology firm that is committed to the delivery of information services in the province of Bohol. They provide dedicated Internet access service for call center operations, develop and maintain free information web sites, resell web hosting services, provide IT consulting services and provide training on Linux and other open source software.
by Misael | May 29, 2008 | Tourism
If we implement the “save-a-liter-a-day formula at a P45/liter, this will translate to a daily savings of P70.2 billion for the country’s 1,561,935 diesel-fed vehicles, or in one year, the total savings would hit an eye-popping P78.9 billion.
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said in his weekly press briefing.
According to Ermita, there are 4,211,932 units of gasoline-fed vehicles throughout the country. If they were to consume one liter less fuel a day at the current price of gasoline of P52 a liter, the savings would amount to more than P219 million a day, or P6.6 billion a month.
On a monthly basis, this means a savings of more than P2 billion, or P63.3 billion a year.
Ermita said that for the government’s 80,000 vehicles, a one-liter reduction in fuel consumption would translate to a daily savings of P4 million, P120 million a month, or P1.44 billion a year.
He said the figures were taken from a study undertaken by the Land Transportation Office (LTO).
LTO computed the planned fuel savings based on the total of 4,211,932 registered gasoline-fed vehicles multiplied by P52 per liter; and based on the total of 1,561,935 diesel-fed vehicles multiplied by P45 per liter.
If we implement a program of saving one liter a day
Ø With 4,211,932 gasoline-fed vehicle (source: LTO) and at P52 per liter, we save:
o P219 million a day (P219,020,464.00/day)
o P6.6 billion a month (P6,570,613,920.00/month)
o P78.8 billion a year (P78,847,367,040.00/year)
Ø With 1,561,935 diesel-fed vehicles and at P45 per liter, we save
o P70.3 million a day (P70,287,075.00/day)
o P2 billion a month (P2,108,612,250.00/month)
o P63.3 billion a year (P63,258,367,500.00/year)
Ø For Gov’t vehicles:
o 80,000 vehicles X P50/liter=P4 million/day
o P120 million/month
o P1.44 billion/year
by Misael | May 23, 2008 | Tourism
TACKLING heated deliberations on power and mediating the controversial spat between Manila Electric Company and state-run insurance system deserve cooling moments and President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo precisely did just that, few minutes after her Bohol Cabinet meeting May 20.
“She was excited, even with limited visibility due to the fast sunset. By the looks of it, she is coming back,” a resort staff revealed as the president briefly came to the island after the dive.
Balicasag Resort resident manager Maria Elena Go said the president was excited when she narrated her experience even with limited visibility.
After the Cabinet meeting, the president, accompanied by Tourism Secretary Joseph Ace Durano, Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap and navy divers immediately motored to Alona Beach in Panglao, about two hours later than scheduled to hop to Balicasag Island.
Squeezing into a black wet-suit and putting on a transparent plastic mask, on the diveboat before transferring to the flat boat in front of the resort, she momentarily left the world of politics for the underwater wonders of the famous dive-island in Panglao.
Earlier, Representative Edgar Chatto, in a radio interview told listeners that the president wants to see for herself why Japanese divers rate Balicasag as the third most beautiful dive site in the world.
Go, in an interview confessed she was worried about the delay for it was almost dark and visibility is reduced.
For lack of time, the dive briefing, which was set at 2:00 pm in the resort happened 2 hours later, and on the boat instead.
An entourage of Navy divers and underwater photographers documenting the event accompanied the president and Secretary Yap as both descended into the famed Royal Garden.
Immersing themselves first on the north side of the island, the dive point of interest are thick corals that form a kaleidoscopic multi-colored reef teeming with tropical fish. The site, simply named the Royal Garden, is also what most divers refer to the entire marine ecosystem of Balicasag.
From there, the President and her party of divers proceeded to the thrill of swimming though the black coral forest or simply Black Forest, Balicasag resident dive master said.
The dive, he said offers a rare opportunity of swimming through black coral that teems at surpsingly shallow 30 meter depths. Black corals are seldom found above 50 meters.
Speculations bare that the island’s shadow combined with the coolness and nutrients provided by currents and upwellings “deceive” the coral into thinking it’s at greater depth.
Apart from the black corals, schools of tropical fish-such as moorfish idols, batfish and lionfish – along with assorted nudibranches, including Spanish dancers are there, Balicasag website states.
Other Balicasag points of interest, which the President’s party missed are the Cathedral Wall, Divers’ Haven, Turtle Point and the Marine Sanctuary dives, all ringing the 25 hectare island off Panglao.
After an hour of diving exploration, the divers dropped by the island for light snacks of fried banana and pancit while the President indulged in rare photo opportunities for the community. (rachiu/PIA)
by admin | May 2, 2008 | Tourism
PROSPECTS for Bohol tourism gets better and better, Department of Tourism Secretary Joseph Ace Durano said in Danao, Thursday.
“In the first three months of this year, the country had more that a million foreign tourists who have spent more than a billion dollars to the local economy,” he said.
Moreover, he added that the figure is exclusive of the domestic tourists, whom he said has been trooping to Bohol to experience the countryside tours.
He cited that Bohol is getting the edge now, being one of the country’s fastest growing tourist destinations because of its well developed highways and road networks and the upcoming opening of the Panglao island International airport.
While in Danao to test run a new eco-adventure tourism, he said the interior Bohol tour packages has become a very feasible project.
“The infrastructure here is already set-up and apart from the government development programs, Bohol’s program for environment protection is its foremost attraction,” he admitted.
This has attracted a good number of investors, people who also adhere to the provincial programs for tourism and agro-industry, which protects and sustains our vision for Bohol, he added.
Here, tourism has helped people find jobs and livelihood.
According to him, “livelihood and other productive activities now keeping the people busy has helped Bohol rid of insurgency, because tourism means jobs.”
Durano intentionally came to meet Bohol’s Grass Roots Entrepreneurship and Employment in Tourism (GREET) grantees and also tested the Ecological Adventure Tourism (EAT) in Danao, through a trekking, kayaking and traversing the famous Wahig River.
The experience also gave him a front seat on the community who has united to package a tour attraction that boasts of their natural resources: in Magtangtang, its pristine, historic and natural landscape which affords a tourist an exhilarating outdoor and extreme adventure sports.
The DOT, through Durano has granted Cantubod Association for the Rehabilitation of the Environment (CARE) 4 sets of river kayaks with complete accessories to allow the tourists to experience the navigable portions of the Wahig, Bohol’s longest river.
As long as the people keep eco-tourism in their efforts, Bohol would still continue to rack in the profits, one that would also help its people attain a life that were not as viable then, a tourism stakeholder also shared. (rachiu/PIA)
