TACLOBAN CITY, (PNA) — The Department of Tourism (DOT) is bullish of attaining 25 percent record high growth in Eastern Visayas tourist arrival this year, following a remarkable performance during the first semester of 2013.
Eastern Visayas has welcomed 371,913 international and domestic tourists from January to June 2013, up by 56.6 percent than the 237,492 figures in the same period last year.
Citing preliminary reports, the region also earned P1.59 billion from tourists, which directly benefited workers in hotels, restaurants and transportation industries.
“If accommodation establishment will continue submitting reports, we are optimistic of attaining 25 percent growth by the end of the year,” said DOT Regional Director Karina Rosa S. Tiopes.
Of the total number of guests as of June, 355,218 of them were Filipinos and 18,011 were foreigners. The tourism department noted a 58-percent growth in domestic arrivals and 37-percent increase in foreign tourist figure.
In contrast, arrivals from January to June 2012, was only 224,339 for locals and 13,152 for non-Filipinos.
Of the 373,229 total arrivals, 8,831 were recorded in Eastern Samar; 26,979 in Leyte; 6,517 in Northern Samar; 4,294 in Samar; 22,953 in Southern Leyte; 205,107 in Tacloban City; 18,407 in Baybay City; 10,463 in Calbayog City; 18,673 in Catbalogan City; 21,349 in Maasin City and 29,656 in Ormoc City.
The DOT is still waiting for reports of hotels and lodging houses based in Biliran province and Borongan City in Eastern Samar.
The region aims to draw more than half million visitors by the end of 2013 with 530,216 domestic and 38,647 foreigners.
Tiopes cited several reasons the region attained significant growth this year. These include increased investment in accommodation facilities, increased development of tourism destination and activities and presence of national events.
“Generally, there have been improvements in data collection as more tourism establishments submitted reports. This is a result of the government’s investment in conducting statistics trainings and re-mentoring and advocacy on tourism statistics importance,” she added.
Destinations with rapid development were the Agas – agas Bridge adventures – zip line and cable car ride in Sogod, Southern Leyte and Animal Theme Park – Maasin Zoo in Maasin City.
Under the new tourism sectoral plan, Eastern Visayas is eyeing 705,698 tourist arrivals by 2016, targeting domestic visitors from three regions and foreign tourist from Europe and other five countries.
Of the target number of tourists, 658,686 are domestic and 47,103 are foreigners. The sectoral plan eyes tourist from within the region, Central Visayas, and National Capital Region. Target foreign tourists are from USA, Australia, Japan, Europe, Korea, and China.
“Based on our current performance, we are on track of hitting 6.75 percent annual growth target for foreign and 7.5 percent for domestic arrivals in the next three years,” Tiopes added.
In 2012, the region generated an income of P2.09 billion from tourist who stayed two days and one night at an average. Each visitor normally spent P3,885 daily.
Tourism stakeholders project a P10.13-billion revenue from tourism by 2016, with an average daily expense of P4,081 per tourist. The target average length of stay is four days and three nights.