2025 Central Luzon Sustainable Tourism Summit
Haring Ibon and Bird Finder Philippines were once again invited to the 2025 Central Luzon Sustainable Tourism Summit to showcase the natural wonders of Subic Bay for the second year in a row.
One of the highlights of the 3rd Central Luzon Sustainable Tourism Summit was a brief birdwatching tour scheduled for the first day of the summit. Around 20 participants registered for the quick birding sortie, including many first-time birders, tourism executives, residents of Subic Bay, and acclaimed photojournalists.
This brief and quick afternoon tour, led by Djop Tabaranza, Christian Benvidez, and Vinz Pascua, recorded 17 species in under an hour, covering a distance of less than a kilometer. A couple of our highlights include numerous Oriental Dollarbirds, Philippine Falconets, White-bellied Woodpeckers, and Luzon Flamebacks. Our top species include the Blue-naped Parrot and the Green Imperial Pigeon, which we saw flying by in flocks across the trails, with individuals perched on nearby trees.
Despite the short time limit, the tour was a success, with numerous species observed in good light, allowing our first-time birding participants to garner 17 lifers in just an hour! Short trips like these are a testament to the potential of birding as a facet of sustainable tourism in a site as rich as Subic Bay.
Throughout our trip, we are assisted by our official optical partner, Optisan Optics, with the incredible Spotting Scope PL ED 15-60X80, which provides clear views of the many birds in Subic Bay.
A full gallery of photographs can be seen over at the Bird Finder Philippines website:
For the second day of the 2025 Central Luzon Sustainable Tourism Summit, Bird Finder Philippines' Lead Guide, Djop Tabaranza, gave a talk on the immense potential of Birding Ecotourism.
During this short talk, Djop shared how birding can be a viable avenue of tourism for the country, serving as both a means to protect our forests and a sustainable business for Filipino communities in the long run. He shared many examples of how the Philippines can further engage with the international birding community through bird fairs, bird festivals, birding caravans, and bird photography races, among others. Many of the examples Djop presented were events held in the Philippines, such as the 1st and 13th Asian Bird Fair, numerous Philippine Bird Festivals, and the Puerto Princesa International Bird Photography Race, all of which serve as successful local models for sustainable tourism that Subic Bay can follow in the future.
Finally, for the last day of the 2025 Central Luzon Sustainable Tourism Summit, Haring Ibon's very own Chief Design Officer, Vinz Pascua, held a little book signing session for his book, Birds of Subic Bay, over at our booth. We also showcased some of his latest designs with the Birds of Subic Bay Keychains, which were based on the very same book that Vinz wrote, with nearly all the illustrations inspired by his own photographs.
This year is the second year that the Central Luzon Sustainable Tourism Summit has hosted bird watching as one of its major activities. With this year's theme being "Building Green Legacies," we look forward to seeing more from the Department of Tourism - Region 3 and SBMA Tourism as they showcase our wildlife, which is a national and natural legacy.
We would like to thank the SBMA Tourism Office and the Department of Tourism - Region 3 for once again allowing us to showcase the wonderful natural world of Subic Bay to our fellow Filipinos.
