In Central Visayas: Cebu sustains lead in tourism growth

CEBU, Philippines - While Cebu sustains its lead in terms of generating tourism growth in the Central Visayas region, the provinces of Siquijor and Negros Oriental have likewise gained interest from both local and foreign tourists.

Record from the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA-7) showed that while Cebu continues to dominate over other Central Visayas provinces in terms of visitor arrivals, Siquijor and Negros Oriental are fast becoming favorite destinations of tourists in the region.

Except for Bohol, all provinces in the region posted double-digit increases in visitor arrivals.

While the province of Bohol remains a favorite destination of tourists in Central Visayas next to Cebu, there was a noticeable slowing down in visitor arrivals to the province in the last two years.

According to the report, the reduction of visitors could be partly due to the reduction in the number of flights serving the province starting in the third quarter of 2012.

However, in order to regain the growth momentum of tourism in Bohol, the government worked hand-in-hand with the private sector to come up with new strategies to draw in more tourists into the province. One of these strategies involved developing and packaging a variety of activities and projects to attract all types of tourists into the province.

In 2012, the province conducted the First International Wakeboarding Fest in the Municipality of Getafe, Bohol. The varied attractions of Bohol were also featured in one of the episodes of the Kris TV program.

Korean nationals continue to dominate foreign arrivals, accounting for 38 percent of total foreign visitors into the region in 2012. Japanese nationals constitute the second biggest group, accounting for 17 percent of total foreign arrivals.

Overall, the tourism industry expanded even further in 2012 as the region continued to draw in more foreign and local tourists. Central Visayas recorded a 14.6 per cent increase in visitor arrivals, following double-digit growths in both foreign and domestic visitor arrivals.

Central Visayas benefited from sustained growth of international tourism. After recovering  in 2010, international tourism gained momentum in the succeeding years, allowing the region to post accelerated growth in foreign visitor arrivals in 2012.

Foreign visitor arrivals were up by 16.8 percent in 2012, better than the 15.9 per cent growth recorded in 2011.

Domestic tourism in the region also picked up during the year. For the first time since 2007, the region posted a double digit increase in domestic visitor arrivals. —/JOB (FREEMAN)