Eastern Visayas seeks to host next Philippine Dive Experience

The Department of Tourism (DOT) regional office in the Eastern Visayas expressed an interest in hosting the next run of the Philippine Dive Experience.

Launched in November 2024 in the Southern Luzon province of Batangas, the Philippine Dive Experience aims to boost the country’s diving industry and reinforce its position as one of Southeast Asia’s leading dive destinations.

The event draws inspiration from the DOT’s flagship program The Philippine Experience, but is angled to present Philippine diving as a unique and purposeful experience by incorporating heritage and conservation activities. 

Southern delights in the sea

In an interview on Wednesday, 8th January, DOT regional director Karina Rosa Tiopes said that the Eastern Visayas region offers international divers an extensive range of interesting sites to explore.

Foremost is Sogod Bay in Southern Leyte province which offers 30 diving destinations that stretches from its coastal waters to the islands of Panaoan and Limasawa.

Sogod Bay is an undiscovered diver’s paradise that offers shore dives to world-class muck diving, pristine coral walls for macro photography diving and night dives.

The bay is home to around 150 species of hard coral, hawksbill and green turtles, butterfly fish, groupers, sweetlips, rays, as well a host of colourful fish species including nudibranchs, sea slugs, sharks, and whale sharks.

Getting ready

To prepare for the Philippine Dive Experience, Tiopes said they will be planning activities for dive tours and initiate conversations among locals to promote the benefit of diving to the communities and in the protection of marine environment.

Tiopes suggested: “We could also do some activities like coral restoration because we know that their diving sites were affected by Typhoon Odette and they need our help to restore the damaged corals.”

Aside from showcasing the beauty of Sogod Bay, hosting the Philippine Dive Experience will also help promote the region’s culture and cuisine for tourists to understand and relate to the richness of Eastern Visayas heritage.

An opportunity for the hospitality sector

Tiopes is also optimistic that hosting the Philippine Dive Experience will be an opportunity to encourage hotels and resort business to cater to the needs of divers.

She said: “Right now, our players in the diving industry in Southern Leyte have a limit when it comes to accepting guests because of the limited number of accommodation facilities. By hosting this event, we want to achieve the increase of dive facilities and accommodation facilities to address the needs of divers that visit us.”