Tourist arrivals rise in 1st half of 2013

DUMAGUETE CITY , Philippines   - The rate of foreign and local tourist arrivals to this city has increased by 94 percent, or a total of 214,045 through the first half of this year compared to 202,046 over the same period last year, according to the City Tourism Office.

Woodrow Maquiling Jr,, city tourism officer said the top ten foreign tourists were Americans, Germans, Canadians, Britons, Australians, French, Chinese, Koreans and Swiss nationals.

The month of March experienced the highest number of foreign tourist arrivals with 5,612 followed closely by the month of February with 5,589, June (5,406), January (4,883), April (4,058) and May (2,983), CTO records show.

Maquiling said foreign tourist arrivals this first half of the year have risen by 107 percent, or 28,531, compared to the whole of last year, which had 26,504 visitors.

Local or domestic tourists arrivals also increased by about 200 percent, or a total of 172,929 in the same period than last year's 87,047, Maquiling said.

The month of April marked the most number of local tourist arrivals with 41,246, which can be attributed to the Palarong Pambansa event at the time. This was followed by May with 32,161, June (30,199), March (25,402), January (22,448) and February (21,473).

"Not only the Negros Oriental tourism destination more than likely to exceed the number of tourists visiting from abroad and meet the goal revenues, but the prospects for the next months are already pointing further growth," Maquiling said. (FREEMAN)