VIRAC, Catanduanes – After experiencing a decline in tourist arrivals during the past year, the local government of this island-province now wants to learn from neighbor Camarines Sur how it succeeded in luring in tourists.
Catanduanes Governor Joseph Cua said he and his staff have been shuttling back and forth into Camarines Sur to observe and ask for advice from Governor Luis Raymond “LRay” Villafuerte on how to promote his island to foreign and local tourists.
Cua said he was also looking into the possibility of building a partnership with Camarines Sur to entice visitors into exploring the tourist spots of Catanduanes after having a fill of the famous sites on the mainland.
A survey recently released by the Department of Tourism (DoT) showed that in 2010, Catanduanes was among the provinces that experienced a decrease in tourist arrivals, alongside Camarines Norte and Masbate, owing to some negative factors, particularly their unstable peace and order situations during the election period.
Camarines Sur combined with Naga City, on the other hand, received around 1,879,192 tourists in 2010 or roughly 75 percent of the total 2,480,928 tourist arrivals in the Bicol Region.
According to an estimate made by the Catanduanes governor’s office, the island received only 40 foreign tourists during the first few months of 2011 due to the cold and unpredictable weather from January to March.
Cua said it was disheartening that only a few people get to visit Catanduanes and see its pristine beauty.
“We are in constant communication with Governor LRay,” Cua said. “I believe he and his team can enlighten us on the methods that will be applicable for Catanduanes. Our island has so much to offer. Our environment is practically untouched and clean. We have so much virgin forests and big clear rivers that CamSur does not have,” Cua said.
Although Catanduanes is now famous for its majestic waves in the Baras area, which has recently been hailed as a surfer’s paradise in Bicol like Caramoan in Camarines Sur, there are still untapped and underdeveloped tourism potentials in the island, Cua added.
He said they were discussing the possibility of converting the San Miguel River, the largest fresh water stream on the island, into a wakeboarding zone much like the Camarines Sur Watersports Complex (CWC).
“I believe if this will come true, we will have a better wakeboarding complex here because the river is a natural creation. It is not man-made,” Cua added.
Cua said the main objective of the tourism efforts in Catanduanes was not to create man-made spots but to enhance and preserve its natural resources.
He admitted that one of the biggest stumbling blocks to the tourism effort for Catanduanes was the lack of transportation facilities going in and out of the island.
Cua, however, said this problem would soon be addressed with the setting up of a the Roll On, Roll Off (Ro-Ro) port on the island connecting the port in Calolbon town to the port of Sañgay in Camarines Sur, which shortened the travel time between the two provinces to one hour and 45 minutes from three to four hours.
On April 3, Cua led the inauguration of the Calolbon port, the second for the island, the other one being in the capital town of Virac.
Catanduanes is known for its natural tourist spots such as the Luyang and Vargas caves in Virac, Nahulugan Falls in Gigmoto and Solong Falls in San Miguel, as well as pristine beaches like those in Twin Rocks, famous for its white sand shore nestled in a cove, and the Pururan Resort in Baras, which is often visited by Australian and other foreign surfers.
The island is also known as the abaca producing capital of the Philippines.