How Caramoan wowed "Survivor India"

By ANSELMO V. TALAGTAG,JR

October 30, 2011, 12:01pm

Matukad Island (Photo by TEDDY L. PELAEZ)

MANILA, Philippines -- India is the latest country with the “Survivor” franchise to be dazzled by the beauty of the Caramoan islands.

Coming after France, Israel, Bulgaria, Serbia and the Strix group (made up of Norway, Holland, Belgium and Sweden), the Miditech group, the contracted entity of showbiz giant Star Plus India that owns the “Survivor” franchise, is already thinking of returning to Caramoan for its next series.

“We all fell in love with the place when we visited last March,” said Niret Alva, who together with brother, Nikhil, are the executive producers of Miditech. Nikhil is also a member of India’s National Tourism Promotions Board and is keen on promoting the Philippines to the Indian market, especially after being impressed with Caramoan.

How it all began

Caramoan’s popularity with the “Survivor” franchises in Europe started with the first French production in Palawan.

According to Nikolo Juvan of the Philippine Film Studios Incorporated (PFSI), the event handling company, the French wanted to film again in the Philippines but on a more secluded group of islands because El Nido, Palawan is crawling with tourists.

PFSI was then introduced to Caramoan by the son of Governor Lray Villafuerte; and after seeing the islands’ great potential, the French were informed and then it was their turn to be awed.

“There was, however, a condition by the French that housing facilities should be built on the main island to accommodate all its crew, contestants and VIPs. The French producers promised Gov. Villafuerte that they will do the series if there will be facilities built on the main island that was still bare at the time,” Juvan said.

The rest, of course, is history for Caramoan tourism. Facilities were built in what was to be called Gota Village. The French filmed the series, which was shown all over Europe, and the other franchise holders followed suit.

“The French series is the second largest franchise after the United States; so even if we didn’t make any marketing programs to follow it up, the inquiries came,” Juvan revealed.

The latest, of course, is India, whose producers, just midway in the competition, have already signified their intention of returning for their second season, expecting a big slice of the Indian viewers. The first season was a celebrity edition, with 10 celebrities competing against 10 other contestants from corporate to man-on-the-street.

An Economic Opportunity

The “Survivor” series provides jobs, not just for local labor, but also for Manila based personnel. Juvan revealed that every production brings with them a large international crew with various needs from technical expertise to manual labor. It has also provided an opportunity to showcase Filipino talent, skills and friendly disposition that leave a positive mark with each visiting country.

Juvan related that on the first edition of the Israeli series, the producers brought their own carpenters and labor force; but when they saw the ability of the Filipino counterparts, they didn’t bring any of their labor force the next time.

For their part, Miditech Indian managers are pleased with how the Filipino crew handle pressure. “ We usually shout and feel pressured, but the Filipinos just smile and tell us not to worry because things will be done on time.”

Win some, lose some

Juvan and some of his staff have been living in Gota Village for the last four years to handle all the various “Survivor” productions that have returned, time and again, to do their series in Caramoan.

“One thing that stands out is because the islands, numbering around 20 ( only seven are being used regularly because of proximity to Gota) have so much variety. They come in different shapes and sizes, different characters and topography. Some are forested, there’s one with a sandbar, some with rice fields that add a dramatic appeal,” he said.

Definitely an inviting description that will appeal to tourists, domestic and foreign; but, for now, Caramoan may be losing some tourism revenue because it is an exclusive playground of the “Survivor” franchise with Gota village and its nearby islands being opened to the public just two months in a year at least (November and December). But, it more than makes up for it by showing our country’s beautiful islands to the rest of the world. No other country can boast of that many returning productions. Such is the appeal of the islands of Caramoan.

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CamSur is No. 1 tourist draw in 2010

By: Daxim L. Lucas

Philippine Daily Inquirer

The province of Camarines Sur drew more foreign and domestic tourists last year, besting perennial favorites like Metro Manila, Cebu and Boracay to become the top tourism destination in the country, according to official government data.

All told, a total of 2.33 million visitors came to the province in 2010, drawn mainly to the Camsur Watersports Complex and the Caramoan Island.

The January-December 2010 reports of Department of Tourism (DoT) regional offices, local tourism offices and accommodation establishments showed that CamSur posted the biggest arrival volume in the province’s history with 2,330,116 foreign and domestic visitors.

CamSur was followed by Metro Manila with 2,296,475 visitors; Cebu, 1,772,234; and Boracay, 779,666.

The province’s tourist arrival volume was 49 percent higher than the 1,566,447 in 2009. The same data revealed that 461,053 were foreign visitors while 1,869,063 were local.

In Metro Manila, 1,480,871 were foreigners and 815,604 were locals. In Cebu, 712,400 were foreigners and 1,059,834 were locals, and in Boracay, 305,569 were foreigners and 474,097 were domestic tourists.

“The provincial government has found a winning formula in promoting its two crown jewels—the Camsur Watersports Complex (CWC) in Pili and the beaches of Caramoan Island—as one tourism package,” provincial board member Angel Naval said in a statement.

“The best way for our senators to help preserve the province’s international reputation as an ecotourism and extreme sports capital is to ditch the House [move to partition, which] is guaranteed to mess up this tourism master plan,” Naval added.

In a separate report from the DoT research and statistical division, it was disclosed that of the 3.1 million foreign and domestic tourists that visited CamSur and the rest of Bicol last year, 626,690 were foreigners, 54,969 were overseas Filipinos and 2,441,022 were domestic tourists.

The bulk of the foreign tourists who visited CamSur and the rest of Bicol last year were from Europe at 201,679 and North America at 99,012.

Another provincial board member, Warren Senar, noted that Camarines Sur’s status as the country’s top tourist attraction should serve as a strong impetus for the Senate to block the “split Camsur initiative” of the House of Representatives, which they described as an “unpopular, divisive and retrogressive” scheme.

Meanwhile, former Assistant Local Government Secretary Ferdinand Topacio said that, alongside the eventual income loss for the mother province, the proposed Camsur split would disrupt the synergy of the province’s development agenda, which promotes it as the country’s ecotourism capital.

A case in point is that the proposed new province of Nueva Camarines will disconnect Caramoan Island from Camarines Sur, “thereby destroying the unified promotion of CamSur as a prime destination for wakeboarding,” Topacio noted.

‘Survivor’ won’t desert Caramoan

By Juan Escandor Jr.
Philippine Daily Inquirer

AGAIN, “SURVIVOR ISRAEL” will rent the whole Gota Village Resort, which is owned and operated by the local government, in Ilawod, Caramoan, Camarines Sur, to film two editions of “Hisardot (Survivor).”

Jimmy Binyamini, production manager, cited “best place, good people and unique sites” as reasons for the comeback and filming three straight times.

Last year, one edition of “Hisardot” was shot and shown until last month on Israeli national television Channel 10.

This time, the shooting will start on Feb. 28, while filming will end in late May or early June.

The no-celebrity shoot will last 40 days and the celebrity edition, 30 days, excluding the 45-day pre-production to prepare equipment, props and sites, according to Binyamini.

Adventure site

Aside from promoting the adventure appeal of the Caramoan Islands throughout Israel, “Hisardot” will employ some 200 Filipino workers to assist the 120 production members, Binyamini said. “Caramoan is a great adventure site ideal to our show,” he said.

“Hisardot” has two parts—the “reality” and games to test the participants’ wits and survivor instincts. Like castaways on an island, they will be exposed to the cameras under very primitive conditions round-the-clock for 40 days.

“Hisardot” is actually the second media outfit of “Survivor” to film their editions on small islands strewn northeast of Caramoan, facing the island-province of Catanduanes.

The French Survivor, “Koh-Lanta Caramoan,” filmed its edition in 2008, followed by media outfits from Israel, Bulgaria and Serbia in 2009. “Koh-Lanta” was shown in Europe to an estimated 12 million viewers.

A top executive of the provincial government, who asked not to be named because negotiation was still ongoing, revealed that “Survivor USA” would also be filmed here next year until 2012. Its production crew searched many areas in the Philippines and found Caramoan the most ideal place for filming because of its unique geographical features and available facilities that meet production standards.

Ning Villanueva, provincial tourism officer, said Camarines Sur’s hosting of “Survivor” had brought in droves of foreign tourists, making it the most visited destination in the Philippines last year.

Records from the Department of Tourism office in Bicol showed that in the first nine months last year, 1,022,092 visitors came to the province, 206,937 of them foreigners. Americans comprised the biggest number of arrivals, followed by Israelis, British, Australians and Japanese.

Tourism revenues in the region reached more than P1 billion, of which P700 million came from Camarines Sur.

Protected area

Caramoan’s variety of sceneries and unique sites cater to the adventurous spirit, said Jovi Villareal, recreational officer of Gota Village. The resort is inside a 4,000-hectare national park being managed by the provincial government as agreed upon with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

Half of the area is protected and being developed for ecotourism, Villareal said.

The park has many unexplored sites, such as small tiny lakes, subterranean water passages and underwater caves in the small limestone islands. Islets are scattered sporadically and swept by plants and weed trees, and offer narrow beaches and coves accessible by boat or kayak, he said.

On the fringes are towering limestone walls suitable for rock climbing.

Geologic configuration

The primary attraction is the scenic view of a unique geologic configuration in the middle of a wide coastal marine environment.

Caramoan exhibits the so-called karst topography, according to a 1981 study of the Bureau of Mines and Geosciences. This means a landscape defined by a varied formation of limestone cliffs created through geologic processes.

“As for the “Survivor” production coming back, they must be profiting from the sceneries here that draw television viewers to their show,” said Euphi Peñano, the resort manager.