CEBU, Philippines - More local and foreign tourists are expected to visit Central Visayas provinces throughout the end of year as the peak Christmas season approaches, said the regional Department of Tourism.
According to DOT-7, it is expecting an average of 252,260 tourist arrivals in the region for the December period.
In a previous interview, DOT-7 Director Rowena Montecillo said the peak season has started since November. More tourists are also expected to visit Cebu early next year in time for the Sinulog Festival.
“We are monitoring the arrivals especially that I still would want to see the specific tourist arrivals in [the islands of] Bantayan and Malapascua,” Montecillo said, noting the two islands have continued to recover from the previous disasters.
The tourism agency said that from January to September, it already recorded 2,830,768 tourists which account for 77.31 percent of its total target of visitors this year. In the same period last year, the region had 2,675,957 tourists.
Its 2014 goal of tourist influx was raised to 3.6 million, up from the initial target of 3.3 million.
The director expressed optimism the agency would be able to achieve its target, considering that tourist places in the region have slowly regained the confidence among tourists after the major calamities.
She pointed out figures on tourist arrivals are very important as they show to the people how the local tourism sector has been performing amid the challenges that affect the industry.
The tourism department also needs the help of the private sector and various tourism offices of local government units in collating tourism data, she added.
Tourists
During the 2014 January-September period, Cebu received 2,083,046 tourists, the biggest among the region’s four provinces. Bohol had 334,899 visitors; Negros Oriental recorded 381,204 arrivals; and Siquijor had 31,619 tourists.
During the said period, local tourists reached to 1,696,670 posting a 4.45 percent growth rate while foreign arrivals increased to 1,124,854 having a growth of 7.58 percent, data furnished to The FREEMAN further showed.
Visiting overseas Filipino workers also grew by 55.10 percent during the first nine months of this year to 9,244, up from 5,960 during the same period last year.
Top markets
Korea remains as Central Visayas’ top tourism market with 434,141 Koreans who visited the region during the nine-month period; it increased by 2.65 percent from 422,927 last year.
It is respectively followed by Japan, USA, China, Australia, United Kingdom, Germany, Canada, France and Singapore.
Of all these nations, only Canadian tourists dropped by -20.09 percent to 17,386 this year, lower than 21,758 in 2013.
The total number of tourists from the said markets grew by 8.91 percent to 964,830 during the nine-month period this year from 885,886 in 2013. (FREEMAN)