EDITORIAL - Tourist destination

Another tourist destination in Central Visayas has gained an international recognition. The famous Chocolate Hills in Bohol were included on the list of 17 most wild and beautiful places in the world by the prestigious National Geographic.

In a new book on the beautiful places on earth, the National Geographic said the "conical Chocolate Hills of Bohol Island in the Philippines are mystery of nature." Those famous hills have also been proposed for inclusion on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

For the Department of Tourism, the recognition was certainly an honor for Bohol and the entire region. "We can now say that the hard work placed by both the private and government sector of Bohol has resulted to such recognition," said DOT-7 director Rowena Lu Montecillo.

Last month, Cebu province, especially the Camotes Islands, was named as one of the world's best islands together with Palawan and Boracay by the international lifestyle and travel magazine Condé Nast Traveler.

Now that Central Visayas has been slowly getting huge worldwide exposure, it's high time for our tourism authorities to double their effort to attract more foreign tourists. They should be more aggressive in promoting the region to take advantage of those international recognitions.

Although Central Visayas has been the favorite destination for the South Koreans, the Japanese and the Chinese, there is still a lot of work to be done considering the fact that there are other markets waiting to be tapped. These untapped markets are those wealthy states in Europe, Middle East, and North America.  

And taking advantage of those international recognitions should include revolutionizing the strategy if we want to attract more tourists from other markets aside from the usual neighboring countries.    

Cebu and other areas in Central Visayas have what it takes to become the tourism hub not just in the country but in Asia as well. All we need is an honest-to-goodness approach by those concerned tourism officials in the campaign to lure more foreign tourists.