MANILA – The dive industry has contributed almost PHP 37 billion in tourist receipts from international dive visitors, constituting over 17.5 percent of the country’s entire tourism receipts in 2022.
And in a bid to further expand development of the country’s dive tourism industry, the Department of Tourism (DOT) hosted the inaugural Philippine Tourism Dive Dialogue (PTDD) held at the Fili Hotel at Nustar Cebu last September 14-15, 2023.
In her message, DOT Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco said that it is important to put the spotlight on many other key and emerging dive sites across the country.
Frasco added that another goal of the DOT-led Dive dialogue is to capture new tourist markets, specifically for diving.
“The focus of the Department of Tourism is to target various markets, whether that be families, solo travelers, luxe travelers, barkadas, and the like. And we have very specific programs that are targeted to various niche markets specifically for dive. We have dive enthusiasts from all over the world and many jurisdictions including North Asia, as well as Europe, to whom dive has been a very strong product for the Philippines,” Frasco said.
She added that the DOT fully intends to capitalize and open up to new markets, especially in Europe and in the Middle East, with close collaboration with the Department of Transportation (DOTr) to mount more flights coming into the country from these jurisdictions.
The event featured important panel discussions as well that focuses on Marine Environmental Protection and Conservation; Dive Niche Products: Free Diving, Scuba Diving, Black Water Diving, and Underwater Photography; Philippine Dive: Domestic/International Marketing Campaign; Safety, Standards, and Accreditation of Tourism-related Enterprises (TREs) for Scuba Diving; and Investment Opportunities in the Dive Industry.
The dialogue comes after the Philippines’ fifth straight win as Asia’s Leading Dive Destination at the prestigious World Travel Awards (WTA) 2023.
