NEGROS
ORIENTAL, Jan. 22 (PIA) --About 200 Filipino-Canadian tourists are expected
to arrive in Negros Oriental on January 30 as participants in the 2nd “Winter
Escapade: It’s More Fun in the Philippines Tour” of the Department of Tourism
(DOT) and Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).
This year’s tour program from Jan. 30 to Feb. 6 aims at luring
Canadian and American tourists and balikbayans to visit the Philippines which
include the tourism hub of Central Visayas during the cold months in the west.
.
In a meeting of Negros Oriental Tourism Council (NOTC), Sr.
Tourism Operations Officer Myla Abellana said the new tour package targets
large concentrations of Filipino snowbirds in Toronto, Vancouver, Edmonton and
Calgary in Canada.
Abellana said local officials and tourism councils of the province
and Dumaguete City will join the welcome reception with the Yagyag Festival,
last year’s Buglasan Festival champion at 8:30 a.m. on Jan. 30 at the airport.
This Winter Escapade initiative allows the provinces of Negros
Oriental, Siquijor, Bohol and Cebu as its itinerary loop, to showcase the
beauty of the islands, white sand beaches, nature’s eco-tourism, scuba diving,
and offer in terms of hospitality, culture, food, arts and crafts.
This is also to promote to travelers that the Philippines is a
safe place to travel.
As soon as the group arrives in Dumaguete City, they proceed to a
city tour to Silliman University, Claytown Pottery, Freedom Park, Convention Center,
Public Market, Cathedral Church and Belfry.
On the same day, the tourists will visit Negros Oriental Arts and
Heritage, San Agustin Church in Bacong, Forest Camp in Valencia then back to
Rizal Boulevard and Sidlakang Negros in Dumaguete City.
Before the tourists will proceed to Siquijor Island on the
following day, they will be treated with a dinner and Baile ng Bayan.
(mbcn/JCT/PIA-Negros Oriental)