PRIVATE stakeholders in the surfing industry, supported by the Department of Tourism and the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority, are stepping up efforts to make the sport a major tourist attraction in the Philippines.

 

Their rationale for this invigorated effort is simple: Surfing is the fastest growing personal sport in the country, as it is worldwide.

 

In the past two years alone, more than 10,000 enthusiasts took lessons in surfing schools around the country. CNN’s Go, the network’s online travel page, recently named Cloud 9 in Siargao Island as the 8th among the 50 best surfing destinations in the world.

 

Surfing education tourism, in fact, forms a major market potential that the Philippines can exploit with great success because of its warm waters. There is a growing number of proficient instructors who are accredited internationally as certified surfing coaches.

 

A major effort to upgrade the teaching skills of Filipino surfing instructors was initiated recently with the Surfing Instructors Certification Course by the Academy of Surfing Instructors Philippines. Held in San Juan, La Union, last Feb. 18-22, a series of classroom lectures and actual surfing tests in the sea enhanced the skills of local surfing coaches and trained them to use the best teaching techniques and safety measures employed in surfing education following international standards.

 

Support was extended by private firms Philippine Surfing Academy, Stoked Inc.,  San Juan Surf Resort, Kahuna Beach Resort and Spa, Circle Hostel, Winternitz Insurance, and Asia Brewery’s Cobra Energy Drink.

 

Course students represented four top surfing schools from three prime surfing destinations, namely: San Juan Surf School, La Union Surf School, Quicksilver Surf School in Zambales, and the Mahdox school in Baler.