Davao City – At least 18 major tourism projects are now open to potential investment partners in Davao Region, the Board of Investment (BoI) said.

BoI chief Gil Dureza said they have already submitted the list of project proposals to the investment board head office in Manila for pre-matching before the actual business matching session to be held in connection with the Mindanao Travel and Tour Exposition (MTTE) here this week.

It was learned that the amount of investment for these projects, mostly tourism-related facilities, could reach about P973.55 million to be used either for expansion, rehabilitation, or a new venture.

These projects include the agri-tourism development of a 400-hectare white sand beach at P800 million, and the creation of a Sibulan River Resort and a Mountain Resort with a consolidated
cost of about P50 million.

Also included in the projects is the development of the 14-hectare bat cave at P30 million, as well as the development of the 400-kilometer white sand shoreline of Davao Oriental.

Aside from tourism business matching, the travel and tour exposition highlights many exhibits of travel operators, regional offices of the Department of Tourism (DoT), the Mindanao Interactive Adventure Showcase, the Mindanao Tourism and Transport Congress, the Mindanao Hospitality Showcase and Summit, and the 2nd Canon Image Nation Photography Summit.

The DoT and the private sector initiated the MTTE, which finally unveiled the tourism highway map after several years of planning.

The unveiling of the Mindanao Tourism and Transport Highway Map is the biggest part of the expo.

“This will be the most comprehensive tourism highway map of Mindanao, complete with the information that a traveler needs on a trip,” Araceli Ayuste, of the Davao Region Tourism Council, said in a business forum held here recently.

Ayuste said the map involves all regions in Mindanao, from Region 9 (Western Mindanao) all the way to the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

Although this city remains to be the gateway of Mindanao, the map will also show other entry points on the island, such as Camiguin, and the cities of Cagayan de Oro, Ozamiz, General Santos, and Zamboanga.

The tourism highway map is a collaboration of the various regional tourism councils in Mindanao and the different DoT regional offices, including the local government units.