Albay welcomes Chinese tourists

LEGAZPI CITY , Philippines   â€“ Officials welcomed the first batch of Chinese tourists from Xia- men, China last week.

Some 126 tourists, mostly families, arrived on a char- tered Philippine Air Lines flight from Xiamen. Another group of 156 visitors are ex- pected to arrive today. The tours are for five days/four nights.

The tourists were met by smiling Albay beauties and dragon dancers. They were billeted at the plush Misibis Bay Resort, where a grand New Y ear’s ev celebration on the beach was held last Thursday night, with a sumptuous dinner, dragon dance, fireworks and fire dancers.

The group visited popular tourist spots in the province such as the famed Mayon volcano, Cagsawa ruins and an all-terrain-vehicle (ATV) tour to the lava front in Barangay Mabinit. They also enjoyed Lignon Hill Nature Park, had whale shark interaction in Donsol, Sorsogon, and en- joyed diving and water sports in Misibis Bay.

“This is a great moment in Albay’s tourism,” said Albay Gov. Joey Salceda, who led local and tourism officials in welcoming the group.

“We expect that this visit to our province of these Chinese tourists would boost further our efforts to promote our lo- cal tourism industry,” Salceda said. “This looks small initially, but we expect some 150,000 tourists spending $1,000 each or roughly P6.5 billion injec- tion into the local economy.”

In June, there will be regu- lar chartered flights twice a week between Xiamen and Legazpi City.

Albay serves as gateway to the Albay-Masbate-Sorsogon (ALMASOR) tourism destina- tions.

Tourism regional direc- tor Maria Nini Ravanilla said “this is a dream come true for all of us,” a breakthrough for Bicol tourism as they expect at least some 17,000 Chinese tourists this year.

To sustain this, Ravanilla said facilities are in place, tourist destinations are attrac- tive and the manpower are ready for the increased tourist arrivals.

“This is just a start and if the tourists will enjoy their stay, I hope more Chinese tourists will be coming to Albay and other tourist spots in Bicol,” said Ian Mayer Varona, gen- eral manager of Misibis Bay Resort as he welcomed the guests at the city airport.

Varona said Boracay, Cebu and Bohol are already satu- rated. “Chinese tourists are looking for alternative tourist destinations and we are hap- py tour operators have taken a second look at the tourist spots in Albay.”

Varona said the tourists would proceed to the Lan- guage Center of the state- run Bicol University (BU) to to give important pointers in learning the Chinese lan- guage.

Misibis Bay Resort owner Zaldy Co said that tour opera- tors in Shanghai, Guangzhou and 12 other cities are also interested to visit Albay. He added Korean and Taiwanese tourists are also interested to come here this year.

“From 100 rooms at Misi- bis Bay Resort we must in- crease to 1,000 rooms to ac- commodate this big number of Chinese tourists,” Co told The STAR.

Legazpi City Mayor Noel Rosal said that the chartered flights will also allow Albay- anos and Bicolanos to go to Xiamen. With Cet Dematera