ANGELES CITY – This city is on its way to the Guinness Book of World Records after it successfully held at the Bayanihan Park here the longest known seated massage chain in the world.
A total of 447 members of the Philippine Association of Licensed Massage Therapists (PALMT) participated in the event here over the weekend, as part of this city’s month-long fiesta celebration.
Video and still cameras recorded the event for the Guinness bid. The massage chain would also be the first to be participated in by professional therapists.
“It was a pioneering effort done by PALMT, led by its national president Jevren Sibug to make it to Guinness Book of World Records by holding the longest sitting backrub massage,” Mayor Edgardo Pamintuan said.
Sibug said his bid for the world record was “to show the world that the Philippines is capable of drumbeating its niche as the health and wellness capital of the world.”
Past Guinness records on back massage chains did not consider whether the participants were legitimate therapists and were mostly in standing position.
Sibug noted that the longest standing massage chain was recorded in last year at Washington University in Missouri when 710 students formed a standing massage chain to make it to Guinness.
He noted that the massage chain held in this city deserved to make it to Guinness as it was the first to be participated in by therapists in a sitting position.
“This shows that Filipinos can excel in the realm of physical therapy amid the growing number of wellness buffs wanting to delay the effects of aging. We are proud to promote our so-called Pinoy Hilot as the best treatment for the aching body,” Sibug added.
The event here was also attended by Department of Health director Benito Arca and Department of Tourism director Ronnie Tiotuico.
Tiotuico said “the new world record would catapult the wellness industry to greater heights as the tourism department is now on its way to catch the fitness fever by positioning the country as the most likely destination for treatment, healing and recovery.”
He noted that Pampanga alone has more 100 day spas and resort offering therapeutic massages.
In a national convention held here recently, the National Association of Independent Travel Agencies of the Philippines, Inc. cited medical tourism and other related attractions, including massage therapy, would be among the major come-ons for foreign visitors to the country.
An estimate of 3.3 million tourists who visited the Philippines last year was hailed as unprecedented, but the DOT has admitted that such figure lands the country merely sixth in terms of tourist arrivals among the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
