The Philippine Department of Tourism (DOT) finally received the award for the country’s recent recognition as the Best Overseas Diving Area in this year's Marine Diving Awards in Tokyo, Japan.
The Philippines gained the highest number of votes for the first time in the Overseas Diving Category, garnering 814 out of the 3,572 total votes caste by subscribers of Japan's leading Marine Diving Magazine,
The magazine cited the Philippines as “a first pick for many diving lovers.”
The award was conferred in a formal ceremony at the recent Marine Diving Fair 2020 in the district of Ikebukuro in Tokyo.
“This award is a testimony that diving is more fun in the Philippines, with each underwater paradise offering a unique adventure and experience to behold, and return to. Our underwater landscape is a colorful kaleidoscope of nature's living jewels, one that divers cannot find anywhere else," Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo- Puyat said in a statement.
Participating in the said fair, the DOT featured in its booth underwater videos of various Philippine diving spots. Five Philippine resorts that participated in the fair also held online meetings with visitors.
Marine Diving Magazine cited the diving sites in Moalboal and other sites in Cebu, Busuanga in Palawan, and Bohol province, all of which are teeming with whale sharks, snappers, dugong, other big fishes, large schools of sardines and long mackerels, and other rare and endemic species.
The magazine said these diving sites have “captured the hearts of many divers and make them want to revisit the Philippines again and again."
With its easy access from Japan and reasonable tour prices, it also noted that the Philippines is “no doubt a first pick for many diving lovers.”
Among the country's popular diving sites also include Malapascua off the northern tip of Cebu Island, Anilao in Batangas, Puerto Galera in Oriental Mindoro, Donsol in Sorsogon, and Dauin in Negros Oriental.
The magazine also featured the famous Apo Reef Natural Park in the western waters of Occidental Mindoro, the world's second largest contiguous coral reef system, and the Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park in Palawan which earned a UNESCO World Heritage Site status.
The Philippines has also bagged similar awards such as both Asia and the World’s Leading Diving Destination Awards in the World Travel Awards in 2019.
“Diving in the Philippines is like a dream come true, where you wake up and dive at the center of the center of global marine biodiversity, and keep wanting to dive again to come back for more,” the travel industry’s most prestigious awards program said.
Diving is one of the top tourism products under the National Tourism Development Plan 2016-2022. The DOT is set to issue guidelines for the operations of diving establishments to ensure the health and safety of divers under the present quarantine regime.
"When the situation is better and with the easing of travel restrictions around the world, we hope to again showcase to divers not only our underwater jewels and biodiversity but also our brand of culture and hospitality,” Puyat said.