BOHOL’S popular Loboc River Cruise is again receiving guests after intensive post-Typhoon Odette rehabilitation.
According to Lourdes Sultan, manager of Travel Village Tours, a Loboc River Cruise operator, the floating restaurants have also resumed the buffet lunch service.
Sultan said the cruise had a brief resumption in the last quarter of 2021 as pandemic restrictions slowly eased. However, the super typhoon severely damaged the vessels, as it lashed through parts of the region in mid-December 2021.
Department of Tourism (DOT)-Central Visayas Director Shahlimar Hofer Tamano announced that the Loboc River Cruise is among various tourism activities "restarting" as the country re-opens borders on the heels of the Covid-19 pandemic and Odette.
On March 1, 2022, four cruise vessels were launched at their maximum 50 percent passenger capacity of 30-35 guests per boat following protocols prescribed by the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF). Other vessels are currently in rehabilitation. Four more boats will be serviceable by the end of March 2022.
The cruise promises an enriched heritage experience. The refurbished boats are fitted with details in the Visayan vernacular architecture. Guests will enjoy a more elegant, culturally-attuned journey through the waterway. The boats are now wider. Polished wooden floors, stained glass, capiz and callado details have been installed on the vessels.
Cruise operators, said Sultan, saw the opportunity to implement the aesthetic enhancement with the repair of the twin-hulled motorized vessels. The upgrade is in keeping with the Bohol Provincial Tourism Council's direction for tourism facilities to adopt the Visayan vernacular theme.
As tourism activities ground to a halt with the declaration of the pandemic in 2020, the local government of Loboc and cruise operators hankered down to masterplan the conduct of the well-loved river trip.
They began with assigning separate entrance and exit buildings within the river cruise complex. The two-story airconditioned entry facility houses ticket booths and waiting areas seating up to 150 guests with consideration of the IATF distancing protocol.
Tourists appear to have been just waiting for pandemic restrictions to be lifted.
Sultan said an average of 150 daily visitors have gone on the river cruise on its first four days of operation. About 25 percent of this number is non-Filipino.
"DOT-7 reiterates its commitment to industry players all over the region. We congratulate the Province of Bohol, LGU Loboc and our floating restaurant operators for the initiative to enhance the Loboc River Cruise and for the successful reboot," Tamano said.
Loboc is now "back in business," Tamano said.
Operators are accepting forward bookings for the river cruise. Bookings are also being accepted for other sites within the province. Visitors need to present proofs of vaccination -- vaccine cards, certificates or passports -- upon entry. (PR)