The Filipino fervour

Mona

If beaches, surfing, shopping, eating and partying is what you aim at when holidaying, Philippines Tourism came calling just for you this Monday with fabulous offers. Enchanting 1,707 islands vie for attention as they offer pristine beaches where you can choose colour of the sand - white, brown, pink; or Chocolate Hills of Bohol, the perfect cone-shaped Mount Mayon to the world’s smallest volcano of Taal!

The country is also home to the longest underground river in the world that you can ride on boat. Natural bounty apart, fun loving Filipinos turn an ordinary experience into the extraordinary with their smiles. Eating, shopping and clicking remains three popular pastimes for Filipinos that you are bound to enjoy. In fact, Manila is labelled as the ‘selfie’ capital of the world.

What you can do? Well, starting from exploring beaches, you can witness World Heritage sites. While shopping is their national obsession, by the way eating is the national pastime; you can enjoy bizarre food and shop till you drop in city-sized malls!

And what the tourism industry is offering in 2015 – 14-day visa free trip on all its international airports and seaports and free food as well as stay for kids below 11. They are too happy to host destination weddings or the honey-mooners. “We offer 488 out of 500 total varieties of coral reefs found across the world,” shares Director Verna Esmeralda C Buensuceso, officer –in-charge, Market Development Group, DOT Philippines. And with such a long shoreline they have got the best underwater views of the world!

If Philippines looks like an attractive place, it’s the people who make it all the more fun. Along with the tourism marketing team, there were musicians – three-member band Zel and also a human beat box wonder Neil. In a jaw- dropping performance, Neil copies many musical instruments with his vocal chords. The 19-year old, who was discovered at the age of 12 when in a shower he completed the feat listening to his neighbour play Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean, has been a people’s favourite for his performances. Get ready to mingle with talented, fun loving Filipinos!

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