DOT readies Mindanao tourism plan

The Department of Tourism (DOT) is working to promote Muslim Mindanao to visitors from Islamic countries, according to Tourism Undersecretary Myra Paz Valderrosa Abubakar. The agency is targeting potential tourists from neighboring Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei and is also eyeing the country’s 15 million Muslim-Filipinos to as a separate market for domestic tourism, she added. There are plenty of destinations in Sulu, Basilan and Tawi-Tawi, such as “undiscovered” beaches, according to Abubakar. Abubakar said the DOT recently issued a circular to tourism operators and entrepreneurs nationwide to advise them on how to make their establishments Muslim-friendly. —JEROME ANING