PROMOTING sustainable travel and tourism, Cebu Pacific's (CEB) Juan For Fun Backpacker Challenge brings five teams from Davao, Zamboanga del Sur, Sultan Kudarat, Baguio and Iloilo to beautiful Philippine destinations for a week-long travel experience.
CEB director for marketing Blessie Cruz, in an interview with SunStar Davao, said this year’s Juan for Fun returns with a new mission of enabling young Filipinos to travel around the country and equipping them with knowledge to become a responsible traveler.
“We promote sustainable and responsible tourism as early as now because these are our next generation travelers. We want them to realize that in traveling you have to be responsible as well,” she said at the sidelines of the Juan For Fun 2018 send-off party at Ibiza Beach Club in Mactan, Cebu on Tuesday, May 22.
She added that during the seven-day backpacking adventure, they challenge the participants to use less plastic and be mindful of their garbage.
On its seventh year, Juan For Fun was made open to a bigger and wider market as it no longer requires a video entry to join, rather the airline used the social media platform and asked young Filipinos to send their stories answering the question: Why she/he/you deserve to fly around the country?
“We want to be more inclusive. We thought that asking travelers to send their entries through videos they need to have the gadgets and not all have that. We realized that Juan for Fun is really learning for travel, it should be for all, so we made it simpler for everyone to join this time,” Cruz shared.
Five teams, one mission
With over 13,000 entries, only five winners were picked by the airline to experience the travel challenge.
The lucky five winners are Michael Saturos from Davao City; Elmo Ador, Jr. of Iloilo; Frances Banico of Sultan Kudarat; Ronil Jr. Ferolino of Zamboanga del Sur; and Jonathan Cuanso of Baguio City. Each winner is bringing two companions with them.
For Saturos, a UP Mindanao student who secured the spot as people’s choice, he was nominated by his friend Mendel Cristine P. Naigel who believes that Juan For Fuan will help Saturos push his advocacies as student environmentalist.
“I hope we get to meet a lot of people from different cultures, learn from them on how to become responsible traveler. We see also Juan For Fun as a perfect opportunity to encourage others to travel responsibly,” Saturos said.
The Davao-based participant is a volunteer of Philippine Eagle Foundation and is active in various youth and environment groups in the country.
The teams will be coached by celebrity and travel vlogger Bea Binene, social media personality Baninay Bautista, travel writer Jude Bacalso, vlogger Kimpoy Feliciano, YouTube creator and travel personality Wil Dasovich, and Becoming Filipino’s Kyle “Kulas” Jennermann.
The teams will experience Cebu Pacific destinations such as Batanes, Dumaguete, Masbate, Bohol, Siargao, and Puerto Princesa, among others.
Adding to the excitement of their trip, teams were given a Special Fun Challenge Booklet which contains activities that they must try throughout their Juan for Fun journey.
From chasing waterfalls, to climbing a mountain, to traveling with a purpose through promoting sustainable tourism, these activities will help teams earn points for a chance to win GetGo points or round-trip tickets.
Juan For Fun 2018 is in partnership with Smart, Fujifilm, and Jake Bros.