Stakeholders in cruise tourism accompanied by Tourism Regional Director Dara May Cataluña and City Tourism Officer Sarita Sebastian pay a courtesy visit to Mayor John Dalipe in City Hall Tuesday afternoon (August 1) on the sidelines of their exploratory efforts in opening the Zamboanga port for cruise calls.

Dubbed as the Cruise Tourism, Port Facility and Attractions Destination Team, the group said it is assessing the possibility of making the city as one of the ports of destination of an international cruise ship in the coming days.

As this developed, Mayor Dalipe thanked the team for considering Zamboanga to be one of the international cruise destinations, saying it will be an added boost to the city’s tourism and economy.

He expressed his full support to the plan citing the city’s strategic location and being the gateway to Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA).

Present during the courtesy call to the mayor were representatives from DOT-Makati and DOT-9 staff, design and content creators, private cruise and shore excursion companies Travel People, Sharp Travel, Baron Travel and CCT 168 Travel and Tours and port handlers Wallem Philippines and Ben Line Agencies among others. (Sheila Covarrubias)