Kalayaan Optimistic Of Tourism Boost After ‘Expedition Tours’ Launch

Fancy exploring Philippine territory in the disputed West Philippine Sea as a tourist?

For a year now, the municipal government of Kalayaan in Palawan has been offering week-long tours that attract travelers who seek adventure and long to see natural wonders – and has since boosted its local tourism.

Among the first batch of tourists who visited the archipelago last April was 30-year-old Julie Ann Lope.

Lope shared with The Philippine STAR/OneNews.ph that she did not hesitate to join after a friend saw the tour on Facebook and recommended it to her.

Onboard an expedition yacht where she and other tourists spent the night during the week-long excursion, the trip from the port of Buliluyan in the southern tip of Palawan to Kalayaan’s main island, Pag-asa Island, took “almost 30 hours.”

Lope recalled that they enjoyed their stay in Pag-asa Island because the town celebrated a festival at the time, with various activities in place like a boat race, singing and fishing contest and a night of partying.

She was even made a godmother for a newlywed couple in the island.

She pointed out that while their group saw sea vessels surrounding the island from afar, the island was in general peaceful.

She joked that she received a text message from a local telecommunications provider saying “Welcome to China!”

Asked what she learned from her experience, Lope answered that the “once in a lifetime” tour taught her the “need to take care of the environment and appreciate what we have, the resources we have.”

“We should support local tours like that. I also travel abroad, so my goal right now is the Philippines first,” she said in Filipino and English.

She visited the small booth of the Kalayaan Islands Tourism Agents (KITA) Cooperative, composed mostly of residents of the Kalayaan Island Group serving as guides and staff for the “expedition tours,” at the 34th Philippine Travel Mart at the SMX Convention Center last Friday, Sept. 1.

The cooperative offers two kinds of week-long tours: Pag-asa Summer Tour, where travelers can stay in the main island and take part in its festival, with tours happening in May 2024 and May 2025; and The Great Kalayaan Expedition, which will let tourists experience various activities like diving, island-hopping, bird watching and fishing, with scheduled tours in March, April and May of 2024 and 2025.

Tourists coming from Manila should pay for their flights to Puerto Princesa, aside from other exclusions like antigen test, personal gear for fishing and diving, travel insurance and van transfers.

The Pag-asa Summer Tour is priced at P30,000, while The Great Kalayaan Expedition costs P120,000, both available at website travelspratlys.com.

Those visiting the KITA’s booth at the Philippine Travel Mart until Sunday, Sept. 3, can avail of discounts.

Both KITA and the expedition tours were launched in September last year when they joined the Philippine Travel Mart for the first time, according to Kalayaan municipal tourism officer Ken Hupanda.

“We just tested the market to see how many are interested to visit Kalayaan, and we found out that most visitors were very curious, that is why we came up with the project,” Hupanda said.

He ensured the safety of tourists who wish to join the Kalayaan tours, since the program includes uniformed escorts and is coordinated with the Philippine Coast Guard and the National Security Council.

He noted that establishing a tourism program for the archipelago – composed of seven islands and two reefs, including Ayungin Shoal – covered in the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone in the West Philippine Sea would ensure economic development for residents.

“Most of the people there are fishermen... right now, they are earning P200 to P300 in their fishing trips for the whole day as commercial fishermen because they have no one to sell their fish catch to. If tourism activities prosper in Pag-asa, they can earn as much as P2,500 to P5,000 a day just guiding tourists in their fishing trips,” Hupanda told The Philippine STAR/OneNews.ph.

He also shared that government agencies like the Department of Tourism would help the municipal government develop its tourism program, particularly in identifying diving spots in Kalayaan and in coming up with a homestay program in Pag-asa Island.

Since March this year, the KITA has toured 150 Filipino travelers and 30 foreigners from Japan, Switzerland, Australia, Canada and the United States.

The tours have also been featured by foreign news outlets like SBS in Australia, Channel News Asia, Nikkei Asia and South China Morning Post.

Aside from boosting Kalayaan’s tourism industry, which he called the “most secluded community in the Philippines,” Hupanda expressed belief that the Kalayaan tours are “one of the most effective, non-aggressive ways to impose our ownership in those islands.”

“What you see on TV is just the tip of the iceberg,” he said.

“If you really want to awaken your sense of nationalism and see the truth ourselves, then we have to see it directly. This is a one-of-kind experience to be able to spend time with the locals in the farthest, westernmost community, which is Pag-asa Island,” he added.

While the Philippines should continue asserting its ownership over areas of the West Philippine Sea based on international law, Hupanda maintained that Filipinos must be “responsible” in claiming territory and the resources found there.

“For us, it is not only about claiming it, but putting value on the claim… Not claiming it just for the sake of owning it, but we are owning it in a responsible way,” he said.

“If there is value in those islands and we know for sure we are doing our own way of protecting it, then there is more value in that claim,” he added.