DOT sees more visitors in South

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Tourism (DOT) is targeting to increase tourist arrivals in Mindanao by as much as 20 percent in 2017, following the drafting of a tourism and infrastructure masterplan in the region.

Eden David, head of DOT’s Mindanao office, said the agency was aiming to accelerate the growth of arrivals in all five regions in Southern Philippines provided that Mindanao would be able to effectively roll out its infrastructure projects.

In 2015, David said Region 9 reported a total of 800,000 arrivals; Region 10 welcomed 2.7 million visitors; Region 11, or the Davao Region recorded 2.8 million; Region 12 booked close to one million; and Region 13 registered 1.2 million.

These brought the total arrivals in the whole Mindanao Region to approximately 8.5 million last year.

“There’s really an increase in number of tourists in Mindanao and the target that has been set is to really increase it by 10 to 20 percent, but that would actually depend upon the logistics support when it comes to infrastructure,” David said.

David said the DOT, together with the Mindanao Development Authority (MINDA) was already formulating a Mindanao Logistics Plan, which would set up an effective system to support infrastructure development in the region.