Daanbantayan gets fame via foreigners’ websites

Impressed with their stay in the place, two foreign visitors ended up promoting the town of Daanbantayan in their websites.

It was learned from Daanbantayan municipal tourism officer Gregg Rubio that Skip Ellsworth, an American national married to a Boholana, owner of Skip’s Beach Resort in barangay Agujo in Daanbantayan has been maintaining an internet site which is read by countless tourists who want to visit the country.

“Incidentally,  it appears that my website, www.skipsbeachresort.com, is currently being read by virtually every tourist that is considering a visit to the Philippines and especially those tourists that are considering a visit Daanbantayan,” Rubio quoted Ellsworth as saying through email. 

On his website, Ellsworth put Daanbantayan forward in its very best light (culturally and socio-economically) taking every opportunity to let people know that the destination is very friendly, safe and that the government unit has a very "welcoming" attitude towards foreigners.

Rubio said that Ellsworth asked more substantial information to be added in the website such as projects and activities that the local government unit is promoting.

This would include the mayor’s tourism programs, the effectivity of the police force that is constantly working at the area, reliability of the infrastructures in the municipality such as electricity, water, cable TV, road improvements, fire department, postal service and more.

Ellsworth also has his best friend, Don Herrington, who also has another popular website about the Philippines with an address, of www.livinginthephilippines.com.

“Between our two websites, Don and I feel that every tourist that is even thinking about coming to the Philippines will be reading what we have to say. This will obviously give Daanbantayan a tremendous advantage over other areas that are not as well represented,” Rubio quoted Ellsworth.

Ellsworth also reported that virtually, everybody that stayed at his resort also visited the Island of Malapascua.

Rubio said that the good news about this kind of exposure is that many of these foreigners that stay at Skip’s Resort end up establishing residences in Daanbantayan, investing money, and bringing a lot of "foreign" insights into the community and encouraging their friends to do the same. 

Ellsworth has also assured Rubio of his help if he needs to see tourist’s issues through the eyes of a "foreigner" for he is dealing with other foreign tourists 24 hours a day, and therefore he knows what they are really looking for when they come to the Philippines. 

Daanbantayan is a 2nd class municipality in the province of Cebu and it registered a population of 73,254 according to the 2007 census.