Bohol-Panglao International Airport (BPIA) is using its terminal to steer visitors beyond the province’s familiar tourist circuit, promoting lesser-known eateries, farms and community attractions through locally curated travel guides.
The airport has partnered with Bohol-based exploration app and editorial platform tana! to offer arriving passengers destination guides through QR codes, mini-zines and a dedicated section on the app.
The initiative is designed to connect well-known attractions with more everyday, community-based experiences, potentially spreading visitor spending to smaller businesses and destinations that typically sit outside mainstream itineraries.
Five curated routes feature a range of experiences, including a countryside trip with firefly watching, a half-day exploration of Tagbilaran City, and a coastal-and-farm itinerary combining permaculture farming with cacao roasting.
The latter is aimed particularly at repeat visitors looking for quieter and more hands-on ways to experience the island.
Rather than relying solely on conventional tourist listings, the guides draw on recommendations from Bohol residents, giving communities a greater role in determining which places and experiences are presented to visitors.
“Through this partnership with tana!, we aim to integrate authentic, community-curated guides right into our airport,” said Aldwin Uy, general manager of Aboitiz InfraCapital Bohol Airport Corporation, which operates BPIA.
Uy said the partnership was intended to encourage travelers to look beyond established attractions and discover more of Bohol’s culture, food and local stories.
The airport guides also include practical information for arriving travelers, such as tourist SIM kiosks, transport-booking options and airport shopping.
For BPIA, the initiative turns the terminal into more than an arrival and departure point. It gives visitors destination ideas at the moment they begin planning their stay, when decisions about where to eat, what to see and where to go next can still shape their itineraries.
The partnership also reflects a broader effort to distribute tourism activity across Bohol, where the popularity of established destinations can leave smaller operators and community attractions competing for a share of visitor spending.
By putting locally sourced recommendations directly in front of arriving passengers, BPIA and tana! hope to make those lesser-known stops easier to find and, eventually, easier to include in the province’s tourism circuit.
