2.5 million tourists dropped by Central Visayas

• Source: http://www.sunstar.com.ph/cebu/business/2016/08/31/25-million-tourists-dropped-central-visayas-494895
• Wednesday, August 31, 2016

By Katlene O. Cacho

TOURIST arrivals in Central Visayas grew by 4.16 percent to 2.5 million in the first half of the year, partial records from the Department of Tourism (DOT) 7 show.

The region welcomed 1.04 million foreign tourists from January to June, up by four percent. Domestic tourists, on the other hand, grew by 4.64 percent to 1.4 million.

Cebu logged 1.8 million arrivals, followed by Negros Oriental with 345,308 arrivals, Bohol with 322,243 arrivals and Siquijor with 48,410 tourists.

Arrivals from China logged the highest growth during the first semester at 110.04 percent from 46,968 tourists in 2015 to 98,653 arrivals this year.

However, arrivals from five countries that belong to the region’s top 10 source markets declined.

Tourists from Australia, the region’s fifth top source market, dropped by 7.84 percent from 33,000 to 30,414 arrivals. Arrivals from Germany, likewise, declined by 4.91 percent to 23,590 arrivals.

Arrivals from United Kingdom, Canada and Taiwan also declined.

Guests from the UK dropped by 19.77 percent to 18,970 arrivals; Canada by 19.50 percent from 21,606 arrivals last year to 17,392 arrivals this year; and Taiwan by 7.89 percent to 15,557 arrivals this year from 16,889 in 2015.

Korea remains the region’s top source market. The number of visitors from Korea rose by three percent from 359,906 last year to 370,707 this year. This was followed by Japan with 165,237 arrivals, up by 8.69 percent. China came third, followed by the United States, whose tourists grew by 4.55 percent.

For the first half of 2016, the country welcomed 2.9 million visitors, 13.70 percent higher than the 2.6 million arrivals in January to June 2015, data showed.

Korea logged 686,118 visitors, constituting 23.04 percent of the total arrivals. USA remained the second biggest visitor-generating market with 454,170 visitor arrivals at 15.25 percent.

China, the third biggest market, has supplied 340,958 for a share of 11.45 percent. Japan followed, with a visitor count of 260,656, comprising 8.75 percent of the total inbound traffic. Australia, still steady in fifth place, contributed 126,209 arrivals, comprising 4.24 percent of the total.

Total earnings gained from tourism activities for the first half of 2016 amounted to an estimated P127.37 billion. This recorded a double-digit gain of 14.70 percent compared to P111.05 billion for the same period in 2015.