The Philippines continues to make waves as a global diving destination, after bagging diving honors at the World Travel Awards (WTA) Grand Final Gala Ceremony at the Royal Opera House in Muscat, Oman.
Winning WTA’s 2019 World’s Leading Dive Destination award for the first time, the Philippines bested eight other global dive destinations, namely, Azores Islands, Bora Bora in French Polynesia, Cayman Islands, Fiji, Galapagos Islands, Great Barrier Reef in Australia, Maldives, and Mexico.
Meanwhile, Palawan’s prestigious Amanpulo Resort emerged victorious as the World’s Leading Dive Resort at the gala event held on November 28 (November 29 in the Philippines), besting eight competing resorts in the Maldives, Fiji Islands, Belize, Cayman Islands, Palau, China, and Egypt.
Last October, the WTA held its gala event for Asia and Oceania in Vietnam, where the Philippines earned its first Asia’s Leading Dive Destination award after multiple nominations since 2006, and the Department of Tourism was also recognized as Asia’s Leading Tourism Board for its efforts to increase visitor arrivals for the Philippines in the previous year.
Identifying dive tourism as one of the key product portfolios under the National Tourism Development Plan (NTDP) 2016-2022, the Philippine Department of Tourism (PDOT) has hosted a number of dive-centric events including the Anilao Underwater Shootout photography competition, and the Travel Trade Support through Dive Travel Exchange (TRAVEX) business-to-business (B2B) meetings.
Recently, the PDOT hosted the first Philippine International Dive Expo (PHIDEX) exposition, the only event in the world with the Dive Travel Exchange or business-to-business (B2B) meetings. The exposition gave foreign buyers the opportunity to see and experience first-hand Philippine dive products and knowledge of the country’s dive destinations, and stressed the Philippines’ competitive advantage in the region, not only as a diving destination, but also as a business hub.
Founded in 1993, the World Travel Awards has been recognizing brands and organizations from the travel, tourism, and hospitality industries all over the world that have raised the bar for global tourism standards, through its annual Grand Tour, a series of six regional gala ceremonies with a grand final ceremony held at the end of each tour.
SEND congratulations to the Philippines’ travel and tourism community for these new milestones!
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