DAVAO CITY — The pandemic has opened opportunity for the regional office of the Department of Tourism to discover and validate more diving sites in the coastal towns of the Davao region which led to the launching of the First Davao Dive Expo ’22 on June 24.
“During the pandemic, we were able to go around and validate emerging and potential dive sites,” Department of Tourism XI Regional Director Tanya Rabat-Tan revealed.
The DOT-XI together with the Philippine Commission on Sports Scuba Diving were able to discover spectacular diving sites in the coastal towns of Governor Generoso, Taragona and in Mati City, all of Davao Oriental.
When people were locked inside their confines the tourism agency personnel, following health protocol, explored the underwater resources of the region.
In year 2020 and 2021 which marked the height of the pandemic, they were able to assess and validate additional dive sites with three (3) each from the towns of Taragona and Boston.
The newly validated dive sites were added to the existing 14 diving destinations of Davao region being showcased at the expo and many of which are found in Island Garden City of Samal in the province of Davao del Norte.
The Davao Dive Expo is not only a showcase of diving sites, according to Rabat-Tan, it is also a venue to educate and inform people about protection and marina wildlife conservation
“While we want to promote our dive sites , we want people t be more sensitive and to conserve our underwater resources, ” she emphasized.
The validation did not end there, as the DOT-XI is set to visit dive sites in the provinces of Davao Occidental and Davao del Sur.
In her speech during the launch, Rabat-Tan elaborated “Scuba diving has become an immensely popular leisure tourism activity here in Davao Region. Over the years, we have welcomed a number of tourists who’d come here to explore our numerous dive sites. Aside from being a year-round diving destination, divers prefer our region for our coral gardens, underwater caves, reef edges or walls, shipwrecks, marine sanctuaries, or simply taking photographs of our unique micro critters.”
The Davao Dive Expo, according to Rabat-Tan will showcase Davao dive destinations, stressing “This time not just in Samal Island, but in sites across Davao Region.”
Starting today, June 24, until Sunday, June 26, the expo will showcase the different dive sites through the lens of DOT’s underwater photographers “With a photo exhibit in order to give our mall visitors a peek into our colorful underwater realm. We are also inviting everyone to our series of talks in our goal to create awareness and appreciation in marine wildlife protection and other dive related issues to be led by various experts.”
All these activities will be held here at the atrium of SM Lanang Premier.
On May 25 to May 29, the Island Garden of Samal hosted the very successful Samal Dive Festival last May 25 to 29, which was participated by divers from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. The festival was not just a showcase of Samal Island’s rich marine biodiversity and unique seascapes but also to jumpstart adventure activities, such as diving, in order to lure back visitors and restore livelihood that our communities have lost during the course of the pandemic.”
