The dive sites in Sogod Bay in Southern Leyte are among the diving destinations in the country featured in this year’s Diving Equipment and Marketing Association (DEMA) Show 2022 in Orlando, Florida.

DOT Eastern Visayas regional director Karina Rosa Tiopes, who presented the Sogod Bay during one of the sessions, said she is optimistic that the region’s participation in international trade shows would signal a return of foreign divers in the province.

“The Sogod Bay Dive Sites has been dubbed as the Rising Star of the Philippine Dive Destinations. It is often described as an undiscovered divers’ paradise, that has something to suit every diver’s level of experience, preference, and expectations,” Tiopes said in a phone interview on Monday.

The 30 dive sites around Sogod Bay, according to Tiopes, offer divers shore dives to world-class muck diving; pristine coral walls dives to macro photography diving, and night dives.

Other diving destinations highlighted in the event from Nov. 1 to 4, are in Davao, Cebu, Bohol, Negros Oriental, Siquijor and some sites in Region 4-A (Calabarzon).

On top of business meetings and networking sessions, the Philippines’ presence at the DEMA Show 2022 also offers educational opportunities through the conduct of country presentations and information dissemination about the recent developments in the Philippine dive industry.

The annual DEMA Show is the largest trade-only event in the world for companies doing business in the scuba diving, ocean water sports and adventure/dive travel industries.

It attracts hundreds of exhibitors and thousands of dive and travel industry professionals from around the world each year. (PNA)