Currimao seaport comes alive with foreign tourist arrivals

Staff reporter

Currimao, Ilocos Norte—Long queue of tourist buses, van operators, tricycle drivers, tour guides and vendors occupy the seaport of Currimao every time a cruise ship docks here twice a month.

Now on its third winter call to the Philippine waters, Superstar Virgo arrived at the Omnico Natural Resources Inc. Port on February 7, with 917 crew members and 1,268 passengers.

Angel Lao, owner of a travel and tour company said the growth of cruise tourism in this northern gateway of Luzon create a huge economic impact on the local community particularly on job creation and livelihood.

“As a travel operator, we help and gather all suppliers of tourism to serve our tourists. There are three identified major cruise destinations in the country such as Manila, Boracay and Ilocos Norte and we look forward to welcoming other cruise lines booked with us for 2018 and 2019,” said Ms. Lao.

This year, Superstar Virgo has 18 port calls to the Currimao seaport along with other cruise lines such as M/V Diamond Glory and Costa Cruise among others.

“We are indeed beyond blessed. It's not luck, but we know it's miracle,” said Bradley dela Cruz, a tour coordinator from Laoag City.

To entertain the arrival of guests, cultural dancers from the municipality of Badoc performed in front of the visitors, mostly composed of Chinese tourists and some from the United States, Canada, Australia, Germany, Norway and France.

From Shanghai, China, the passengers visited some tourist destinations in the province leading to their next port in Manila then back to China.

Earlier, the Department of Tourism Laoag sub-office assisted 15 travel agents for Costa Atlantica cruise ship to conduct ocular inspection on the different tourism facilities and major tourist destinations in Ilocos Norte and Ilocos Sur.

Araceli Salem of DOT Laoag said the Costa Atlantica cruise ship arrived on February 10, for its maiden voyage at the Currimao seaport managed by the Philippine Ports Authority.

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