Eastern Visayas eyes 20% tourism growth in 6 years

TACLOBAN CITY, Feb. 3 (PNA) -- Tourism stakeholders in Eastern Visayas are eyeing at least 1.31 million to 3.23 million annual tourist arrivals in the region from 2017 to 2022 as outlined in the new development roadmap.

Department of Tourism (DOT) Regional Director Karina Rosa Tiopes said industry players were compelled to raise the target after consistently surpassing the goal in the past six years.

From a six percent to seven percent annual growth target, stakeholders increased it to at least 20 percent annually for both domestic and foreign guest arrivals.

Of the 3.23 million projected arrivals after six years, 81,936 of them are foreign and 3.15 million of them are domestic.

In 2015, the region welcomed 1.09 million guests. The 2016 projection is higher at 1.18 million visitors, based on DOT records.

“We agreed to adjust our targets because we are just comfortable with the growth over the past years. It did not really push the industry to work harder,” Tiopes said.

Tourism stakeholders completed the tourism roadmap under the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte for inclusion to the 2017 to 2022 Regional Development Plan.

With the new plan, the DOT is optimistic that more tourists will stay longer in the region. The goal for length of stay by 2022 is five days and six nights from the current two days and one or two nights.

“We are upbeat because tour operators have been recently experiencing increase in bookings. We are now in the tourist maps because visitors have been inquiring about coming to the region,” Tiopes added.

The government drafted the new roadmap in consultation with local government units, affected communities, tour operators, hotel owners, and management of other tourism-related businesses.

“The role of other stakeholders is very important because we also have to look into the capacity of our accommodation facilities and transport system in setting targets,” she explained.

The tourism regional chief urged local government units to actively take part in realizing the plan, by tapping whatever local resources to attract tourists.

“We need better accommodation facilities outside Tacloban City. If there’s no hotel in an area, we urge local government to develop home stay program. There are actually opportunities that some people refuse to see,” she pointed out.

The region consists of the provinces of Biliran, Eastern Samar, Leyte, Northern Samar, Samar, and Southern Leyte, and the cities of Baybay, Borongan, Calbayog, Catbalogan, Maasin, Ormoc and Tacloban, the Eastern Visayas' regional center.

The Central Philippines Tourism Super Region Management Plan adopted in 2009 had identified the tourism development areas in the region as the Samar-Leyte Interface (Tacloban-Basey), North Western Leyte (Ormoc), Northern Leyte (Biliran), Southeastern Samar Island (Guiuan), Southern Leyte (Sogod Bay Area), and North Western Samar (Catarman).

Among its popular destinations are Kalanggaman Island, San Juanico Bridge, Leyte Landing Memorial in Leyte; Sambawan Island in Biliran; dive sites in Southern Leyte; Calicoan Island in Eastern Samar; Sohoton Cave and Natural Park in Samar; and Biri Rock Formations in Northern Samar.

Eastern Visayas remains relatively under-the-radar compared to other tourist destinations in the Philippines, but this has been slowly changing in the past years as demand for raw nature tourism grows, according to Tiopes.

More and more people visit the region in pursuit of rugged coasts and landscapes, secret caves and waterfalls, and fascinating histories. (PNA)

JMC/SQM