NOTE: THIS PRESS RELEASE WAS FIRST PUBLISHED IN THE BOHOL CHRONICLE’S SUNDAY PRINT EDITION.
Good roads and a wide option for multiple attractions and activities propelled Bohol as Agoda pins Bohol, Siargao and Davao as the country’s hottest destinations.
In its 2024 New Horizons List, travel platform Agoda picked the three top destinations, considering the recent huge surge of online searches for possible travel destinations by domestic and international travelers, recent reports revealed.
Owning a 72% increase in trending searches in Agoda’s year-on-year search data, Bohol sits in a very good position, bolstered by the enlistment of the entire island province as among the elite global geopark destinations, announced Bohol Provincial Tourism Officer (BPTO) Joan Pinat.
Speaking at the weekly Capitol Reports as instituted for transparency and timely information dissemination venue in the term of Governor Erico Aristotle Aumentado, Pinat added that the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) designation of Bohol as among the global geoparks, may have contributed to the spike in interest.
Bohol as the Philippines’ first UNESCO Global Geopark, has a geological identity pieced together for over 150 million years, as periods of tectonic turbulence leaving its traces of how it has raised the island from the ocean depths.
Largely karst, Bohol’s geoparks include sauntering heights and rolling hills of the Alicia Panoramic Park, the Chocolate Hills, majestic water falls, water-carved caves, marine terraces, verdant forests and even a spread of underwater paradise that is the earth’s heritage worth celebrating.
Pinat added that the local government’s promotion of the geoparks as well as the decent roads that make these destinations accessible by public transport allowed the BPTO to keep a local tracking of tourist access to these sites.
After Bohol is the country’s acclaimed surfing capital Siargao, which owed 32% increase in online searches.
SIARGAO
A small island off Surigao, Siargao boasts of its surfs; from the infamous cloud nine to ankle breakers that easily fit into anyone’s surfing skill set.
It also has white sandy beaches perfect for swimming, snorkeling and SCUBA diving, island hopping activities and canyoneering.
DAVAO, ILOILO, CDO
Meanwhile, Davao City is another destination that prides itself of its outdoor sightseeing activities.
With its rolling hills, verdant nature and sandy beaches all easily accessible by public transport, Davao pinged at 23% new searches trend.
Also in the list’s top five are Iloilo and Cagayan De Oro.
On the other hand, Panglao in Bohol, gets recognized as one of the trending global destinations for 2024, by Booking.com.
In fact, BPTO Pinat shared that in their geo-sites’ promotions tracker, Panglao sits as the top destination in Bohol.
This however, she credits to the 219 of the 369 tourism accommodation establishments located in Panglao.
At night and early mornings, tourists are in Panglao, but they would be all over the province in the day, they would only come home to Panglao to rest, she pointed out.
That is why, 69% of the tourists are in Panglao, Pinat, who rose to the top local tourism office position after an accomplished stint as tourism products development officer said.
With Panglao are Tagbilaran City, Anda, Dauis, Ubay and Talibon.
These areas are also the ones with decent number of accommodation options for tourists taking their Bohol vacation for several days. (rahc/PIA-7/Bohol)