By Lily O Ramos
MANILA, April 15 — Department of Tourism (DoT) Secretary Joseph Ace Durano on Wednesday said that kayaking is one of the world's fastest-growing recreational sports, aside from being a strong magnet for the Philippines' ecotourism projects.
"Kayaking is one of the country's nature-based products, like scuba diving, trailing and birdwatching which we must cultivate to the fullest for local and foreign tourism," Durano told newsmen in a late afternoon press conference at the SMX Center along the stretch of Asia Mall in Pasay City.
"We have natural assets for this ecosport because we are surrounded with different bodies of water like oceans, seas, rivers, marshes, mangroves and wonderful 30,000 coastlines," said Durano.
He added that with two million paddlers in the U.S. wanting to test other waters around the world, the Philippines should be a natural destination of at least 25 percent of these sportsmen-tourists.
Durano said the fact is the tourism department spends around two to three million pesos annually for the promotion of adventure or recreational projects overseas through participation in international trade missions, fairs, exhibits, booths and other forms of information.
Another P100 million is spent for travel operators who carry out tourism diplomacy here and abroad which is actually cost-effective in the end.
"We will tap the services of specialized tour operators to track down movement of tourists and recreational groups for us. Our tracking will be via the production of specialized operators or the private sector who have the necessary equipment since the DoT is more on the marketing side," he said.
On the other hand, Val Camara, top gun in the Philippine Kayaking Series 2009 on April 24-26 in Bolo Beach, Alaminos, Pangasinan with DoT as the main sponsor, said that anyone can join the event but the minimum age would be 12 years, and provided that the candidate is big enough to handle a kayak paddle.
National athletes and those with vast experience in boating and whitewater rafting would be given a new category to distinguish them from the novices.
Camara said kayaking is a very safe sport since the boats have been designed with new bulges to stabilize them, complete with buoyancy chambers and provided with life jackets for a smooth glide.
Other sponsors are the Pangasinan Visitors bureau, the Alaminos City government and the Provincial tourism office of Pangasinan.
Just before the press conference ended, Durano said the DoT main office would take care of the transportation and accommodation of mediamen who will be covering the event. (PNA) scs/LOR
