The Philippines continues to be the world’s top diving destination.
MANILA – The Philippines has been named the world’s leading dive destination once again at the prestigious 2021 World Travel Awards (WTA).
“This distinction is indeed a great privilege, but it also highlights our great responsibility of protecting and conserving our underwater resources so that future generations can enjoy and experience them in their pristine natural state,” Tourism Secretary Berna Romulo-Puyat said Thursday as she welcomed the honor.
The Philippines has won the award for the third year in a row.
It outperformed other world dive destinations such as the Maldives, Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, the Azores Islands, French Polynesia’s Bora Bora, the Cayman Islands, Fiji, the Galapagos Islands, and Mexico.
The Philippines is known for having the best diving destinations in the world, as well as biologically diverse marine and aquatic resources.
It not only belongs to the magnificent Coral Triangle—dubbed the “Amazon of the Ocean” because it is home to 600 coral species, 2,000 reef fish species, and six of the world’s seven species of marine turtles—but it is also, as marine scientists have determined, at the center of it, making the country home to the richest marine ecosystem on the planet.
Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park in Palawan, Anilao in Batangas, Malapascua and Moalboal in Cebu, Balicasag, Panglao, and Anda in Bohol, and Puerto Galera in Oriental Mindoro are among the best diving spots in the country.
Apart from these popular dive sites, some of the country’s emerging dive sites include Samal and Talikud Island in Davao del Norte; Balingoan, Talisayan, Medina, Magsaysay, and Gingoog in Misamis Oriental; and Camiguin.
The DOT, for its part, vowed to further identify potential destinations that may be developed for dive tourism.
The award came as the Philippine government last month successfully vaccinated over 95 percent of workers employed in accredited dive establishments across the country.
Source: https://bit.ly/32cvnkQ
