Look beyond Boracay, DOT urges tourists

ILOILO – Department of Tourism secretary Wanda Teo is bent on cross-selling other tourist destinations in Western Visayas, the region most popular for the world-renowned Boracay Island in Malay, Aklan.

The Tourism regional office is offering a wide variety of tour itineraries to cross- sell different other attractions, Teo said.

“Cross- selling” means selling a different product or service to existing customers.

“Region 6 has so much to offer for all types of visitors,” she said. “They have and the sweetest mangoes for those into food trips, batchoy and there’s the Ati- Atihan for those who are seeking exotic festivity.”

Available itineraries center on nature- based tourism, ecotourism, sun and beach, diving and marine sports, cruise and nautical, said Teo.

Others are for culture and heritage, pilgrimage, leisure and entertainment, MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences, and events), education, culinary, and farm tourism.

Tour packages include the Iloilo heritage and mystery tours; island adventure and escapade tours of Guimaras, Capiz, Antique, Aklan, and Negros; as well as back-to-back trips with in Carles, Ajuy and Concepcion towns, and the Gigantes group of islands.

These t our packages consist of land and sea tourist transports, entrance fees, accredited tour guides, and typical Ilonggo meals and snacks.

Through the cross-selling of tourist destinations, localities become partners in tourism development by “sharing and exchanging” visitors, Undersecretary Alma Rita Jimenez pointed out.

Western Visayas is a major contributor to Philippine tourist arrivals, Regional Director Helen Catalbas said. It is the only region with two international airports ( Aklan and Iloilo) and three domestic airports ( Caticlan in Malay, Aklan; Roxas City in Capiz; and San Jose, Antique), she noted.

Western Visayas is currently featured at the DOT Showroom, highlighting the destinations, native crafts and farm produce from the provinces of Aklan, Antique, Capiz, Guimaras, and Iloilo. (

PN FILE Despite the seasonal algal growth in Boracay, thousands of tourists continue to pour in. But the Department of Tourism tells tourists that there is more to Western Visayas than the world-famous island resort.

Suspected illegal drug dealer Gerry Tejada looks on after his arrest on Toting Reyes Street, Barangay Andagao, Kalibo, Aklan.