DAVAO CITY – At least 30 project profiles, all related to adventure tourism, are now piling up at the provincial offices of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in Northern and Southern Mindanao.

Records at the Board of Investments (BoI) and the National Economic Research and Business Assistance Center (Nerbac) – DTI’s investment arm – showed that the investments that are on the pipeline will cater to the needs of adventure-seeking buffs.

BoI chief for Central, Southern and Western Mindanao Gil M. Dureza said that the focus of tourism developments these days include adventure-related activities within the resorts.

Dureza said that among the adventures that are integrated in resort development nowadays are spelunking, scuba diving, rappelling, crossing the zip line, and mountain climbing.

Of the 30 projects, 28 are from the Davao Region with an aggregate cost of more than P1 billion.

The biggest project is the agri-tourism venture on the Island Garden City of Samal (Igacos) amounting to some P800 million, according to Nerbac-Davao acting manager Lucky Siegfred Balleque.

Balleque, however, said there is a need to establish certain infrastructures and facilities in order to complement the ongoing tourism developments.

“One necessary infrastructure is the bridge connecting Davao City and Igacos,” he said, adding that this would make the movement of goods and people much easier.

In the Mindanao Tourism Investment Summit during 4th Mindanao Travel and Tour Expo (MTTE) here, which is a joint undertaking of the DTI and Department of Tourism (DoT), Dureza and Ballegue urged participants to become business partners of the proposed projects.

“The projects are actually an indication that tourism development is really among the top investment potentials in Mindanao, especially in the Davao Region,” Balleque said.

MTTE has placed to the limelight travel within Mindanao’s best tourist destinations while enhancing the island’s position in the national and global market and creating tourism investment and employment opportunities.

It has recorded commitments of at least P2.5 billion worth of investments in Mindanao during the business matching conducted by the DTI and BoI.