The Philippines is Still The World’s Leading Dive Destination in 2021

The Philippines snags the award for the third straight year!

The Philippines is Still The World's Leading Dive Destination in 2021
(Image: Department of Tourism)

We’re probably already aware of how splendid the Philippines’ dive sites are, but winning The World’s Leading Dive Destination Award at this year’s World Travel Awards (WTA) is a nice way to make it official. 

Not only is the Philippines the world’s top dive destination this year, but we’ve held the title for three straight years now!

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The Department of Tourism (DOT) made the announcement on Thursday, December 16, a piece of news which Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat considered as a “great privilege.”

“This distinction is indeed a great privilege, yet, it underlines our great responsibility of protecting and conserving our underwater resources so that these will also be enjoyed and experienced in their pristine natural state by future generations,” said Romulo-Puyat of the citation.

The Philippines, which just two months ago clinched Asia’s leading beach and diving destination, bested other popular dive destinations to bag the award during the WTA’s 28th edition. Its contenders include the Maldives, Fiji, Mexico, the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, the Azores Islands in Portugal, Bora Bora in French Polynesia, Cayman Islands in the Caribbean, and the Galapagos Islands in the Pacific.

The Philippines lends its victory to its prosperous position at the center of the Coral Triangle, dubbed as the Amazon of the Ocean that is home to 600 coral species, 2,000 reef fish species, and six out of the world’s seven species of marine turtles. This makes our dive destinations home to the richest marine ecosystem anywhere on the planet. 

Some of the best diving spots in the archipelago include Puerto Galera in Oriental Mindoro, Cebu’s Moalboal and Malapascua, Anilao in Batangas, and of course, the famed Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park in Palawan, just to name a few.

There are also emerging dive sites in Camiguin, Balingoan and Medina in Misamis Oriental, and Samal and Talikud Islands in Davao Del Norte.

Established in 1993, the World Travel Awards seeks “to acknowledge, reward and celebrate excellence across all key sectors of the travel, tourism and hospitality industries.”

Art Daniella Sison

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