Bohol tourism takes one more milestone on the global track with the important technical visit here tomorrow of the 21-country delegates to the 38th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) – Tourism Working Group (TWG) Conference. They have chosen this island-province and home to tarsier and Chocolate Hills, both icons of Philippine tourism, for the technical tour after their two-day meeting in Cebu which caps today. The APEC nations include Australia, Canada, Chile, China, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, and the United States of America.

The APEC visit is the second international convergence in Bohol in just two weeks following the five-day, three high-profile meetings of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) transport policymakers and keyplayers on Panglao island. Gov. Edgar Chatto on Friday anticipated with much gusto the APEC delegates' coming, awash in hope for their fair assessment of what Bohol has and more to offer. Some two years ago, Bohol hosted the technical visit of the delegates to the United Nations (UN) – World Tourism Organization (WTO) 6 th International Tourism Forum of Parliamentarians and Local Authorities. Then congressman, Chatto presided over one of the four plenary sessions of that global meeting which was also held, like the APEC-TWG conference, in Cebu. Chatto, then likewise chairman of the House committee on tourism, principally authored in Congress the National Tourism Act of 2009.

Bohol's top-caliber visitors tomorrow are not only senior tourism officials and experts from 21 APEC member economies, which seek to promote open trade and practical economic cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region. The Asia-Pacific rim stretches from East Asia to Australiasia to the Americas, spanning four continents which are representative of the most economically dynamic regions in the world and accounting for 40% of the global human population. The delegates are also composed of representatives from the World Travel and Tourism Council, APEC International Centre for Sustainable Tourism and Pacific Asia Travel Association. Upon arrival at the city tourism port, they will immediately proceed to the tarsier sanctuary in Corella and then drive to Loboc via Sikatuna for lunch on river cruise.

The APEC delegates then speed to the Chocolate Hills Complex in Carmen passing the man-made forest in Bilar and later drive back to the city en route to the Bohol Beach Club in Panglao. By sheer coincidence, Boholanos are honored by the presence here of the officials of Jiangxi province in China, a prominent APEC member economy, for today's fifth commemoration of the sisterhood pact with Bohol province. Both the APEC technical visit and marking of the Jiangxi-Bohol ties are bound to impact on the on-going consultations leading to the unprecedented Bohol provincial tourism summit in June, the first of its kind in the country. (Ven rebo Arigo)