Palawan charms 'Bourne Legacy' director
MANILA, Philippines - Off-season travelers seeking getaways that have that warm, sunny touch of summer can find them all year-round in Palawan, described by the Hollywood director of action film The Bourne Legacy that had its premier showing in Manila last week, as the “most beautiful place I’ve been to.”
“Palawan is a sunny and a staggeringly beautiful place,” movie director Tony Gilroy unabashedly proclaimed.
Palawan Gov. Abraham Kahlil B. Mitra, buoyed by the influx of tourists to favored Palawan destinations like El Nido and Coron, said, “summer in Palawan is not a season but a frame of mind—it runs all year because of our province’s unique geography and because of our people’s sunny disposition.”
That summery feeling begins at the provincial capitol where, every Friday, all provincial employees garbed summer-inspired attire—multi-colored Hawaiian-inspired shirts or vibrant floral tops and dresses—welcome the steady stream of visitors to its famed beaches and dive spots.
“This is our unique way of opening to every visitor the warmth of Palawan,” Mitra added.
He said the provincial administrator, lawyer Elena M. Vergara-Rodriguez, in a memorandum last March, designated every Friday a “tourist-friendly day” and asked capitol employees and officials to wear “tourist-friendly attire.” Palawan and the tourism sector need a boost, she said, and that “summer look” will go a long way in promoting the province as one of the world’s top 20 tourist destinations.
Traveling by boat from one island to another is safe, Mitra said, ticking off the most popular tourist destinations. Tops in the list are the dive spots in the Calamianes, which includes Coron and Busuanga, and Ariara Island, voted the number one holiday destination by the Vogue-UK magazine, which hailed it as the “Best Private Island Resort.” Ariara Island has also enchanted tourists as the “ultimate destination off the beaten track.”
Of matching beauty are the soaring marble cliffs of El Nido and its white sand beaches; the Long Beach of San Vicente, which is a 14-km stretch of white sand; and the world-famous Tabon Caves of Quezon town. The skeletal remains of a Tabon man fossilized 47,000 years ago were discovered in the Tabon Caves, earning it the name as the “Cradle of Philippine Civilization.”
In April this year, the beaches and islands of El Nido topped a poll of the most beautiful Philippine beaches taken by a widely-respected tourist and travel magazine, which said, “ If Palawan is indeed the ‘last frontier’ of the Philippines, as it’s been dubbed, the coastal town of El Nido is the gateway to wild adventures.”
Some of the scenes in the Hollywood action movie, The Bourne Legacy were shot in El Nido, which was also a pit stop for “The Amazing Race. It has “powder-fine beaches and gin-clear waters, but the views are what really sell the place.” Hollywood director Gilroy, who spent two short days filming in El Nido, gushed over its beauty, “It’s just staggeringly beautiful.”
Visitors exploring off the coast of El Nido can easily visit the majestic karst limestone formations, empty lagoons, marble cliffs, prehistoric caves and waterfalls. El Nido is also a paradise for divers, and its surrounding waters contain more than 50 species of coral, and attract whales, whale sharks, sea cows, manta rays, dolphins and endangered turtles.
Tourist arrivals in Palawan totaled almost 650,000 last year, representing a hefty 63-percent growth from last year’s figure, according to Mitra, citing the 2011 report of the Palawan Tourism Promotion and Development Office.
