DAGUPAN CITY, Philippines — An international business and marketing group plans to launch a Northern Luzon cruise that would promote local and foreign tourism efforts and the marketing of local products designed to animate economic activity in the countryside.

Wilson de Vera, a consultant to Pangasinan Governor Amado Espino Jr., said his group, Northern Explorer Development Corporation, “has just firmed up a program that will give tourists access to the country’s world-renown natural attractions and indigenous and marketable products.

De Vera said the proposed cruise will dock in the well-known tourism-rich cities and municipalities in Ilocos and other parts of Luzon, including the Hundred Islands, fish-rich Dagupan City, the alluring beaches of La Union, heritage sites of Vigan, and Subic Bay in Zambales.

The Northern Luzon cruise, he said, would be complemented by similar efforts in Southern Philippines to cash in on the tourism potentials of the country’s more than 7,100 islands.

“It’s a pity that we are not maximizing our God-given wealth,” De Vera said, referring to “the country’s inexhaustible tourism potentials.”

The Northern Explorer corporation has established clientele market linkages in Asia with multi-million fishing and agricultural projects in Papua New Guinea, Singapore, Taiwan and the Philippines.

De Vera said he signed last week a multi-million corn production contract with Asian business leaders in New Guinea.

He said his foreign contacts have expressed support for his tourism cruise project.

He also reported that some Philippine education officials were upgrading their curriculum to train students excel in the competitive market worldwide.

The Northern Luzon cruise is a product of a marketing study that will promote Philippine tourism and help improve the economy, De Vera said.

He said he has formed a special committee that will coordinate with local governments in the marketing of their local tourism attraction and indigenous products.