The Metro Centre Hotel & Convention Center

The Metro Centre Hotel & Convention Center
Tagbilaran City, Bohol, Philippines

                                                      


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Olman's View Resort

Olman's View Resort
Panglao Island, Bohol Philippines

 

Facilities:
Swimming Pool, Business Center, Radha Game Hall (Table tennis, Mah-jong, Billiards, Board Games), Beach Volley Ball and Badminton, Olman's Boat, Van hire and car rental.
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Hotel La Roca

Hotel La Roca
Graham Avenue, Tagbilaran City, Bohol , Philippines

 

Overview: Situated just within Tagbilaran City, Bohol's capital, Hotel La Roca isn't far from the airport and the wharf for you to accessibly find its comfortably quiet and homely Accommodation right at Graham Avenue. Lift your weariness up not only with the "City of Friendship's" charm, at La Roca, business functions, group conferences, out-of-town getaways, and special occasions are well taken cared of. With more than 25 years of experienced and dedicated service, Hotel La Roca puts you first and makes you a priority.

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Crystal Coast Resort

Crystal Coast Resort
Barrio, Tawala, Panglao Island, Bohol, Philippines

 

A fully air-conditioned conference, convention and banquet hall equipped with audio and video systems, with seating capacity up to 175 persons.

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Bohol Tropics Resort Club

Bohol Tropics Resort Club
Graham Avenue, Tagbilaran City

 

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Balicasag Island Dive Resort

Balicasag Island Dive Resort
Balicasag Island, Panglao, Bohol, Philippines

Cottages.
Duplex cottages, 3 singles, 17 twins
Dining Hotel.
Restaurant ( 40 pax ), Indoor / outdoor bars
Recreational.
Boardgames, Dart, Billiards, Table Tennis, Volleyball
Aqua Sports.
Dive Shop complete with the Regulator with submersible pressure depth gauge,
Octopus, BCD inflator hose, BC jacket, Tank with air, Airfill, Mask and Snorkel, Fins, Wetsuit, Booties, Weight Belt w/weights, Underwater Flashlight w/ batteries, 15 cfm Baeuer air Compressor, Dive Safaris, Scuba Courses (pre-arranged), Dining Area
Guest Services.
Transfers (land - water), Credit Cards, Room Service (upon request), Mail and Postage, Curio Shop, Laundry and Pressing Safety Deposit ( individual ), Dive Packages, Electric Current - 110 - 220 volts, Check out Time - 12:00 noon, Source of Water - Spring.
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Alona Palm Beach Resort

Alona Palm Beach Resort
Alona Beach, Tawala, Panglao Island 6340, Bohol, Philippines



Bohol has its own small airport (Tagbilaran City), with several daily connections from and to Manila as well as Cebu. To Cebu it is also connected through a regular ferry service (several daily), both normal and fast ferries, which land and leave at the city pier.

 

Panglao is virtually attached to Bohol, and connected by two bridges of just 50 meters in length. All major beach resorts are located on Panglao, with its pristine white beaches and clean seawater. Panglao is also a haven destination for divers.

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Alona Kew White Beach Resort

Alona Kew White Beach Resort
Tawala, Panglao Island, Bohol, Philippines

How to get there:

Alona Kew White Beach can be reach from many locations around the Philippines and in the world. With direct flights from Metro Manila,Cebu and Davao to major countries and cities around the world. Getting to Alona Kew White Beach is as easy as going to your Favorite Business Shopping Spree and Rest House Vacation Trip.
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Ananyana Beach Resort

Ananyana Beach Resort
Doljo Beach, Panglao Island, Bohol, Philippines
 


Right along 3-km Doljo Beach, on Panglao island, minutes from mainland Bohol via 2 concrete bridges. From Doljo Beach, divesites are a few metres away. Clusters of entertainment, bars and restaurants on Alona Beach is a 10-minute drive. The provincial capital, Tagbilaran City, is a 20-minute drive over the causeway.
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Bohol Beach Club

Bohol Beach Club
Panglao Island, Bohol, Philippines 

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Panglao Beach Resort

 Panglao Island Nature Resort
Bingag, Dauis, 6339 Bohol, Philippines

                                                         
                                       

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Discovering Guimaras

MANILA, Philippines - Best known for producing the sweetest mangoes in the world, Guimaras is one of the Philippines’ smallest provinces. Actually this island in Western Visayas is not so small when it comes to tourist attractions and activities.
First-time visitors will be awed by the island’s verdant landscape, and the characteristic rural ambience now enhanced with well-paved roads that are beautifully bordered with tropical trees. They will also be enamored with the warmth of the residents, who are more interested in showing their hospitality than hawking trinkets and other souvenirs.
Tourists can enjoy the scenic and magnificent white-sand beaches and coves dotting the island or relax in any of Guimaras’ inland, mountain or beach resorts.
For the more adventurous tourists, activities abound, such as rock climbing, mountain biking, spelunking and trekking. One tour of this kind is the Discovery Quest, which starts in Guisi, the heritage site in the southwestern part of the island.
Tourists assemble in Sitio Guisi, site of the ruins of an 18th-century Spanish lighthouse, the second oldest in the country. From there, tourists trek down to Basyaw Cove, where they can go boating or snorkeling or learn about mangroves and their importance to the locals.
After that, they pedal their way to Tagsing Cave or continue island-hopping. A rappelling session can be added to the tour. The exhilarating tour takes about eight hours and is capped with a sampling of local cuisine.



Guimaras, with its splendid coral reefs and marine life, is also an ideal spot for scuba divers. Nature trippers can explore the island’s unspoilt beauty, stunning rock formations, and white beaches, all of which make the island a perfect haven.
The most prominent tourist attractions and must-see locations include the Roca Encantada (Enchanted Rock) in Buenavista town. The imposing mansion on a huge rock is the summer house of the Lopez clan. Though modern looking, the mansion is actually 99 years old, and has been declared a heritage house by the National Heritage Institute.
The Costa Aguada Island Resort on Inampulugan Island boasts of its clean, white-sand beaches, a mini-zoo and a jungle park that is ideal for horseback riding. There’s also the Reyman Beach Resort in Alubihod, Nueva Valencia for its crystal-clear water and sumptuous food.
A trip to Guimaras wouldn’t be complete without a visit to the Our Lady of the Philippines Trappist Monastery in the capital, Jordan. Founded in 1972, it is the only monastery of the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance, or Trappists, in the country. Here, visitors may request for a counseling session with an abbot or just relax and enjoy the peace and quiet, or shop for souvenir items and processed food made by the monks.
And, yes, the mangoes! Over 8,000 hectares of Guimaras is covered by mangoes, the main agricultural product. The variety grown on the island is acknowledged as one of the sweetest in the world, besides being the only one in the country that has been certified pest-free by the US Department of Agriculture.
Guimaranons are very proud of their mangoes, which have found their way into the discriminating American and Australian markets. And to preserve the reputation of their mangoes, Guimaras does not allow tourists to bring mangoes into the island. A tourist check at the port ensures that this rule is complied with.
A Manggahan Festival is also held in May to promote the mangoes and commemorate the founding of Guimaras as a province.
Add to all these great things to do and see in Guimaras is the island-province’s accessibility, technology-wise. Even if you are far from the crowd, you don’t feel isolated from the rest of the world. There is telecommunication service, and yes, the Internet.
These days, the expanded and upgraded network coverage of Smart Communications Inc. offers High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA), and Guimaras is one of the many places in the country with the fastest HSPA coverage.
HSPA is high-speed broadband experience on a mobile device, such as a handset or a Smart Bro Plug-it USB modem. Tourists wanting to share their Guimaras experience with their family and friends back home may do so anytime, anywhere just by using a Smart Bro Plug-it USB modem.
Plugged into a laptop through a quick and easy process, the Smart Bro Plug-it USB modem connects to Smart’s HSPA network and delivers multimedia downloading and uploading at speeds of up to 2Mbps.
The prepaid Smart Bro Plug-it broadband kit costs only P1,995 and connectivity costs only P10 for every 30 minutes. Loading it is also as convenient as loading a prepaid mobile phone, since load for Smart Bro Prepaid is available from over a million Smart Load retailers all over the country.
With Smart Bro, there’s no limit to what could be discovered in Guimaras and wirelessly shared with the rest of the world.
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The Sunday Herald Sun recently reported on the top beaches in Asia. With idyllic archipelagoes, exotic shores and twinkling islands, there is more than enough to choose from. You won’t find old favorites like Boracay’s White Beach and the Maldives but new and undiscovered beaches that all have one thing in common: they are simply paradise.
1. Saud Beach in the Philippines: On the northwest coast of Luzon, little-known Saud Beach at Pagudpud is a 2km arc of blindingly pure sand bordered by the blue of the South China Sea. It’s like an uncluttered version of that famous Philippines shore, White Beach, on Boracay Island.

2. Ko Adang in Thailand: Thailand’s far south Andaman Sea coast has clusters of islands that are still off the radar for tour group invaders and full-moon ravers. The towering rock formations and crystal waters of Ko Tarutao National Marine Park, a 51-island group about 30km off the mainland, are a reminder of how islands such as Phuket, Samui and Phi Phi once were. Here you’ll find Ko Adang, a jungle island with pristine shores, empty beaches and not a beer bar in sight.
3. Bentota in Sri Lanka: At Bentota Beach, 60km south of Colombo, grand arcs of beach sweep north and south from a rocky promontory. The Indian Ocean massages this coast of granite headlands and uncrowded beaches that surfers and European sun-seekers discovered long ago. There is a choice of three, four and five-star resorts from which you can simultaneously contemplate Bentota’s fiery sunset and your of sundowner.

4. Yalong Bay in China: At the same latitude as Hawaii, Hainan is where mainland Chinese come to get that Waikiki feeling without leaving home. While Yalong Bay, near Sanya on Hainan’s southern tip, may lack Polynesia’s heaving surf and swaying skirts, its broad white beaches are better than many in Hawaii. Fishing villages and rice farms once rimmed Yalong Bay’s 7km strand. In their place, quality resorts harvest the disposable incomes of China’s leisure class.
5. China Beach in Vietnam: China Beach, on Vietnam’s central coast near Da Nang, is 30km long and has numerous resorts and restaurants, especially around Bai Non Nuoc. The specific section of the China Beach of Vietnam War and television series fame is known locally as Bai Tam My Khe. Here, you can see fishermen paddle out through its breaking waves in flimsy wicker coracles and then, after fishing, surf right back in again.
6. Calangute in India: “Christmas in Goa” was the mantra for heliotropic (and psychotropic) hippies on the 1970s “Overland Trail”. Calangute’s palm-fringed shoreline was annually invaded by some of the most upbeat and beat-up minds of their generation; today it is simply built-up. Over-development hasn’t been kind to Calangute’s little fishing hamlets, but its Arabian Sea full moons are as spellbinding as ever.
7. Dungun in Malaysia: The east coast of Malaysia is a sleeping secret. Macaque monkeys swing like tiny Tarzans through a tree canopy that borders the South China Sea. Beyond the trees, Dungun, an empty swoop of beach, is one of Malaysia’s least-exploited shores. Offshore is Tenggol Island, part of Terengganu Marine Park, where you can snorkel and scuba dive amid gin-and-tonic clear waters alive with turtles, grouper, wrasse and jacks.



8. Occheuteal in Cambodia: Sihanoukville (aka Kompong Som) on Cambodia’s pretty south coast is home to five fine beaches, even though the best one, Sokha, is reserved for a private hotel’s guests. Sokha’s neighbour, Occheuteal Beach, comes a close second with its long stretch of white sand lined with pine trees. Popular with Cambodians and travellers alike, Occheuteal’s far northern end has become a backpacker hangout.
9. Mae Nam in Thailand: Koh Samui’s east coast strands are almost too well known. Head up to the north coast to snoozy Mae Nam, where the sands may be narrower, but you’re not sharing them with the crowds. The water is clear and calm, the palm trees shady. In the distance you can see a flotilla of blue-grey islands that drifts just north of Samui, including Ko Phangan and Ang Thong Marine Park, where the beaches are truly empty. Check out the Miskawaan Estate right on the Mae Nam beach!
10. Kenting in Taiwan: The semi-tropical landscape of southern Taiwan is a surprise until you remember that the island’s earlier Portuguese name, Formosa, means “beautiful.” The name still fits. Unhurried and warm, Kenting, at the rugged southernmost tip of the island, has reasonable beaches for swimming, diving and surfing, plus an 18,000-ha national park.
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Dive tourists

PUERTO GALERA, Philippines — As the Department of Tourism (DOT) aggressively pushes "Dive Tourism" in some areas in the Philippines, the number of dive tourists in the Philippines grew by 62.8 percent in the first quarter of 2009.

A record from the DOT planning and promotion office revealed that Cebu, Bohol, Palawan, Mindoro Oriental and Batangas are the identified favorite diving destinations especially for foreign tourists.

German dive enthusiasts visiting these diving destinations posted 131 percent increase while the Korean dive tourists went up by 104 percent, American 37 percent, Japanese 34 percent and Chinese 31 percent.

Over-all gross receipts from dive tourism in these destinations posted an upsurge of 52.8 percent to P31 million compared to P20.2 it generated in the first quarter of 2008.

The record showed that substantial growth of 82 percent was recorded during the first quarter of 2009. Revenue generated by dive operations in Bohol went up by 195 percent, while those in Cebu increased by 69 percent.

During 17th Marine Diving Fair in Tokyo, the Philippine DOT Pavilion attracted more than 20,000 visitors and garnered awards for Best Diving Area, Most Desirable Destination, Best Dive Resort and Favorite Dive Operators for the country and participating dive operators.

The DOT also continued to draw dive tourists in its annual participation in the Golden Dolphin Fair in Moscow which attracted over 23,000 visitors from all the regions of Russia and overseas.

Earlier, DOT secretary Joseph Ace Durano urged the local government units (LGUs), as well as diving shops operators in the Philippines, to put premium rates on diving fees, as this kind of potential tourist-drawer product has been under-valued.

Durano said that as far as scuba diving is concerned the Philippines ranks high among interest of scuba diving enthusiasts all over the world, thus there is a need for LGUs to put premium on pricing in charging scuba diving activities in their localities.

"We can afford to put premium on pricing," Durano said emphasizing that in his visits in the top diving spots in the country, he has been urging LGUs, as well as scuba diving operators to charge high in fees, so that LGU can sustain the maintenance and protection of the marine resources.

In Malapascua Islet alone in Cebu, which is one of the top 10 best diving spots in the Philippines, is only charging P100 per dive, P30 of this will go to barangay Logon the lone barangay on the Islet, and the P70 will go to the government of Bantayan Island.

Not only in Malapascua, but also in other eco-tourism destinations in the Philippines, wherein charging fees for eco-tourism activities aside from scuba diving, such as snorkling, whale shark interaction like in Donsol, Sorsogon, among others are also charging very cheap rates.

Durano mentioned that in Australia, in order for people to see a whale-shark or any marine life contained in a aquarium is charging at least $40 per person, which is around P1,800 in Philippine peso (P46 base exchange).

For scuba diving, which is one of the most expensive hobbies, Durano said people from all over the world are willing to spend, just to have the best experience under water.

LGUs that are host of a diving spot destination, should formulate a good price points, in order to get good revenue in this kind of activity to operate a sustainable coastal and marine protection program.

Central Visayas region there are four top diving spots known in the world, these are the Malapascua Islet, Moalboal, Balicasag Island (Bohol), and Apo Island (Negros).

Since scuba diving is a hobby which is mostly indulged in by well-to-do market, Durano said this is one of the few tourism products in the country that is considered as "recession proof".


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