Central Visayas to attract more diving enthusiasts after PHIDEX

CEBU, Philippines — Diving destinations in Central Visayas are expected to attract more local and foreign divers following the successful participation of the Philippine International Dive Expo (PHIDEX) 2022.

The Department of Tourism – Central Visayas’ (DOT7) DIVE7 set the region’s premier dive destinations before the local and international market with the highest participation rate among clustered areas.

DIVE7, together with cooperating stakeholders, staged well-explored and newly-discovered diving sites in a 45-square meter booth, the biggest at the event. Exhibiting with DIVE7 were Bohol Beach Club, Amigos Dive Center and Devocean Divers of Moalboal and Malapascua, Daanbantayan, Cebu, Atmosphere Resorts and Spa and Thalatta Resort of Dauin and Zamboanguita, Negros Oriental.

Cebu-based industry players Sea Explorers, Pacifica Dive and Aquaventure Whitetip Dive Supply were housed in their own respective exhibition spaces. All the DIVE7 co-exhibitors participated in the business-to-business (B2B) travel exchange together with Cebu’s Philippines Aggressor Adventures, Dauin’s Silver Reef Dive Resort, Atlantis Dive Resorts and Liveaboards and Bongo Bongo Divers and Kasai Village Dive Resort of Moalboal.

The event, held over the weekend at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City, was its third outing. With the theme, “Back into the Blue: One with the Sea,” it continues the tourism industry’s narrative of conservation, community and convergence within the dive sector.

PHIDEX is a consolidated all-in-one trade show. It features the B2B travel exchange TRAVEX designed for local and international dive operators, conferences and seminars and familiarization tours to the country’s dive destinations.

PHIDEX 2022’s seminars discussed market trends, dive safety, marine conservation and the changes that the seas have gone through in the recent years, among a host of topics.

The show is the country’s largest platform for the promotion of the dive industry demonstrating the country’s capability for accommodating dive tourists from all over the world. It brought together dive industry suppliers and experts, underwater photographers, marine conservationists and researchers, travel trade operators, entrepreneurs and government representatives.

DIVE7 co-exhibitors reported positive impressions from visitors. They have also received leads for bookings through participation in the three-day show.

Region-wide, Cebu has the biggest scuba diving community. Popular scuba diving sites in Cebu include: Moalboal, Malapascua Island, Mactan Island, Olango Group of Islands, Nalusuan Island, Hilutungan Island, Capitancillo Island (Bogo), as well as diving sites in towns of Alegria, Samboan and Santander.

Cebu has been named as top diving destination in Asia, which makes diving-related businesses a thriving venture in the province.

Bohol, Negros Oriental, and Cebu particularly, Moalboal and Malapascua haven been the favorite diving sites of professional scuba divers, as well scuba diving hobbyists. In 2020, these provinces cited best diving sites in the Philippines at the Marine Diving Awards in Tokyo, Japan.