The Philippines' largest and most influential association of tour operators is all praises for the town of Anda for its unique offering of tourist attractions and for having a dynamic mayor who is passionate about the economic development, particularly the tourism potentials, of the town. The Philippine Tour Operators' Association (PHILTOA) visited Anda Friday as one of the group's stopovers during a 3-day familiarization tour in Bohol in which Anda got the biggest attention of the association, spending the entire Friday exploring Anda peninsula, dubbed by Gov. Edgar M. Chatto as the new tourism jewel of the island province of Bohol. “It was a pleasant surprise to find Anda having a more refine white sand than that of Boracay,” said PHILTOA president Cesar Cruz. “Truly, this part of Bohol is a paradise.” Cruz said that PHILTOA will add Anda as an important part of the Bohol tour package that is distinct from the “usual” tourism sites offered to visitors in the province.

“I highly admire the mayor of Anda, Metodio Amper, for having a political will and the passion to enhance the tourism potentials of the town, and this is how the leadership of a local government unit should act,” Cruz said. Cruz met Amper during last year's Philippine Travel Mart, then in during a world tourism expo in Berlin, Germany, also last year, and the PHILTOA top honcho said that he has not seen a mayor as passionate and hard working as the mayor of Anda in enhancing the tourism development of his place. Eight months after the 7.2 magnitude earthquake hit the island province of Bohol, the country's leading travel and tours operators' association is bullish on selling Bohol again to local and foreign tourists en route to the association's holding of the 25th Philippine Travel Mart set on September 5-7, 2014. PHILTOA, as it capped its familiarization trip yesterday dubbed as “What's Up Bohol?,” said that Bohol has fully recovered from the devastation of last year's massive earthquake, and will now launch an aggressive marketing and promotion of Bohol's famed tourism spots as the association starts drumming up the country's most-participated and prestigious annual travel expo at the Mall of Asia (MOA) in Pasay City this first week of September.

“The progress in its tourism industry is expected, given that the province's topography and location haven lent the locals and tourists pristine coastlines, where some of the Asia's best beach resorts can be found,” said PHILTOA president Cesar Cruz. “Indeed, apart from Bohol's world-renowned Chocolate Hills, the province's tourism draw is strengthened by the clear blue waters surrounding the island.” Two months after Bohol was struck with a deadly tremor, Chatto came up with a recovery plan which includes a roadmap to rehabilitation of Bohol tourism-related infrastructures. The complete rehab masterplan of Bohol has earned praises from the national government and various international agencies, and Pres. Aquino himself has made Bohol as the country's “best model” for recovery from any calamity. Last May 2014 the United Nations' World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) Secretary Dr. Taleb Rifai arrived in Bohol during the province's formal turnover rites of its tourism recovery plan to world-governing body of tourism stakeholders. The Bohol Tourism Recovery Plan (BTRP) is a concerted effort of the Provincial Government of Bohol, the Department of Tourism (DOT), the United States Agency for International Development under its Advancing Philippine Competitiveness Project (USAID-COMPETE), UNWTO and the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA). “We are revisiting the areas, particularly the places that withstood the tragedy – to help Bohol underscore the areas that will yet again strengthen the tourism activities in the province,” Cruz told media here. PHILTOA is an “organization of tour operators and allied members actively involved in the advocacy of responsible tourism. Founded on 12 June 1986, non-stock and non-profit organization. The membership includes travel agencies, hotel, resorts, transportation companies, handicraft stores, and other tourism-oriented establishments and associations.” (MIKE ORTEGA LIGALIG)