CAMIGUINS 20 shoals and reefs are a boon to divers and snorkelers

MANILA, PhilippinesWorld Travel Market (WTM) is the very English event that brings together the worlds travel-industry players to London in November.

Diana, the Princess of Wales, graced its high-profile 1985 opening. Princess Anne, the Princess Royal, opened in 1989 an event marred by anti-Apartheid protesters who threw leaflets at her. Queen Rania of Jordan led the 2002 opening.

In 2003, film star Michael Douglas caused a stir when he attended WTM representing the Spanish island of Mallorca, where he and wife, Catherine Zeta-Jones, own a vacation home.

WTM launched in 1994 the World Responsible Tourism Day. It means taking care of a world that we seek to promote, preserving our heritage and cultures, and taking into account the views and needs of local communities and is one of the few tourism-anchored institutions that bridge the need to preserve heritage and respect local culture.

The exhibitions are attended by 186 countries and 5,000 exhibitors for the opportunity to present a diverse range of destinations to travel professionals. Events provide occasions to meet, network, negotiate and conduct business. In WTM 2012, buyers and exhibitors concluded deals that totaled 1.8 billion worth of business contracts.

Among the exhibitors from the Philippines this year is the island province of Camiguin in Mindanao that calls itself the island born of fire. It is an apt sobriquet with a touch of mystique. Few places in the world are as endowed with so much exoticness from its volcanic genesis.

There are more volcanoes than towns in Camiguin than towns (seven against five).

Two of these are active, the eerily named Mt. Hibok-Hibok (from an old Kinamiging word that means that which heaves; it last erupted in 1952), and the smaller peak Mt. Vulcan (first and last eruption in 1871); which is the islands last-formed volcano.

Sunken Cemetery

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London travel fair gets an exciting glimpse of Camiguin, island born of fire