Bohol's exciting tourism growth

PANGLAO, BOHOL, Philippines — Yup, I’m back in Panglao for the media fam tour of the soon-to-open Bellevue Resort, which has the distinction and the honor as Bohol’s 1st ever 5-Star Resort Hotel. I brought along my Straight from the Sky TV crew including my crew for MyTV for this familiarization tour. Call it luck that my dear old friend, Mr. Johnny Litton, was one of those from the Manila media who was invited, so I got hold of him and had him as a guest for our talkshow.

 It’s not easy to catch Johnny Litton because whenever he is in Cebu for an affair, he’s just too busy to be on our show. But this time, he couldn’t refuse. Best of all, I enjoyed having him on our show because he is also a TV talkshow host and we ended up interviewing each other. Watch it this coming Monday. Aside from Mr. Johnny Litton, I also interviewed Mr. Patrick Chan, Managing Director of the Bellevue Hotels and Bellevue Panglao General Manager Franz Eichenauer about the Bellevue Resort.

 Later in the afternoon, we went to the Wildlife and Botanical Garden owned by Mr. Philippe and Mrs. Patricia Moussempes. I have heard a lot about this place but never had an opportunity to come for a visit. Well, finally we were able to see the place, which is a cross between a zoo and a museum. The place is huge and it had a bird sanctuary and many exotic, but indigenous animals. Yes, it even has a lot of Bali art, including a reclining Buddha and European art that we’ve never even seen in Cebu. You would think that these paintings came from the Louvre in Paris!

 If you go there unescorted, it is a guarantee that you would get lost in the maze, after all that is how the Moussempes couple designed this botanical garden. They also have thoroughbred horses, the first ones I saw in Bohol, and at the end of the garden, loomed the Tarsier Paprika, a modern style restaurant serving European and Asian dishes where they use homegrown vegetables in your salad. The Tarsier Exotica inspired Patricia Moussempes to bring to Bohol the Parisian Patisseries. Indeed, Bohol has truly arrived, as this is a tourism destination that one must go and see.

 Over dinner back at the Bellevue Resort, no less than Bohol Governor Ed Chatto and his wife joined the group, including my good friend Mr. Peter Dejaresco of the Bohol Chronicle and Bellevue’s Johnny Chan. I have known Gov. Ed Chatto for sometime now because he was the 1st District Congressman of Bohol and the Segura Farms of my mother’s family in Catigbian, falls in his district. While you may think that the tourism fever is focused only in Panglao, it is spreading elsewhere in Bohol.

 Gov. Chatto said that Mayor Roberto Salinas of our town in Catigbian is perhaps the most energetic mayor in the whole of Bohol. He has now developed Catigbian into a Green Recreational Eco-Adventure Tour (G.R.E.A.T.) or the Dagook Adventure Tour Experience (D.A.T.E.). But I have yet to experience this when I visit the farm once again. Another place I would love to see is the Danao Adventure Park, which is not far from our farm. These are just examples of tourism growth that was totally unheard of in Bohol 10 years ago.

 After dinner, I asked Gov. Chatto if he would like to be a guest on our TV show and he playfully obliged. First thing that he is very supportive of is Barrier-Free Tourism, being a polio victim himself. Gov. Chatto also revealed to me that finally, after 30 years, the Panglao Airport would become a reality as this was now included in PNoy’s State of the Nation Address (SONA). I have no doubt that Gov. Chatto is excited that this airport project would finally push through.

 Originally, PNoy was against it. In fact, during the opening of the BlueWater Panglao, when then Tourism Sec. Alberto Lim announced that the Panglao Airport was already a done deal, the president denied that this was so two days later when he went to Bohol. Well, as it turns out now, it is coming soon. With this development, Bohol is following the historical path that Cebu took when airline operations at the old Lahug airport was transferred to its present site in Mactan.

 There is no doubt that Bohol’s tourism growth has increased by leaps and bounds and the opening of the 5-star Bellevue Resort in Panglao is proof that Bohol has truly arrived. I’m happy that this has happened to Bohol because years ago, Bohol really had nothing but agriculture. That’s why many young Boholanos come to Cebu for jobs, as there were none available there.

 What could be Bohol’s secret? In truth, there’s no secret really. It is just that Bohol’s political leadership, from Gov. Enrico Aumentado to Gov. Edgar Chatto, wanted to uplift the lives of Boholanos through tourism. Hence, they cemented the circumferential road and even cemented the interior roads. Infrastructure development was key to Bohol’s economic growth. We should learn from the Boholanos in fixing our roads and keeping them clean.

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