Despite drop in Korean arrivals CV's tourism industry continues to improve

CEBU, Philippines – The number of Korean nationals visiting Central Visayas has dropped from January to May this year, according to the consolidated report of the chief of Police Regional Intelligence Division.

But PRID chief Senior Supt. Melvin Buenafe quickly clarified that despite the decrease in the arrival of Koreans, the overall tourist arrivals in the region has continued to increase.

In his report during the Regional Peace and Order Council meeting yesterday afternoon, Buenafe said the Koreans still topped the list of foreign arrivals in Central Visayas with 78, 468 tourists visiting the region from January to May this year. There were 90,657 Koreans that visited the region for the same period last year.  

The police official said the continued increase in the number of both foreign and local tourists indicate a favorable perception of peace and order situation in Region 7.    

Also, records showed that arrival of local tourist in Central Visayas went up from 7,101 in 2008 to 10, 881 this year.

Japanese nationals ranked second in arrivals with 64, 321 compared to last year’s 66,038 and third were U.S. nationals with 35,027 arrivals compared to last year with 37, 215.   

The region has also recorded an increase in the number of Chinese tourists from 11,456 in 2008 to 27,507 arrivals in 2009.    

DOT-7 sourced its arrival information from the hotel and resort accommodation across the region, as this is the most effective tool to measure the arrivals, although, some establishments are not giving their actual guests record.

In Cebu province alone, a total of 79 accommodation establishments joined the submission of guests’ statistics throughout the year. These include inns, some pension houses, large hotels and resorts, including those located in Bantayan Island, Santander, Badian, Moalboal, among others.

Total arrival record in Cebu province also posted an encouraging increase of 7.2 percent. There is an improvement of 8.5 percent in foreign arrivals, and 6.33 percent in domestic tourists.   

In the same meeting, lawyer Tereso Balangkig, a representative of civic sector, raised before the council his concern against erring taxi drivers who convey passengers based on a fixed rate and those who refuse to transport passengers.    

He said there are complaints against abusive taxi drivers in Cebu City ports who are asking for excessive fares.

Balangkig wants the RPOC to act on the matter considering that it will affect not only the foreign but also local tourist coming to Central Visayas.    

The RPOC responded by asking the concerned agencies such as the Land Transportation Office, police and the port management to look into the matter.   

Governor Gwendolyn Garcia, who sits as the chairperson of the RPOC, said it would also be proper to invite Cebu Port Authority manager Angelo Verdan to attend their next meeting for his office to act on the complaints. — Garry B. Lao/WAB (THE FREEMAN)