Cagayan de Oro City (20 October) — The city continues to be the most visited among the places in Northern Mindanao as it registered 212,974 visitors from January to August, this year.
Imma Rae D. Gatuslao, city tourism officer disclosed that the figure posted in their statistics registered 9,077 foreigners; 189,791 domestic travelers; 3,372 balikabayans and another 10,734 visitors with unspecified nationality.
During the said period, the number of visitors is higher during the summer months and people find the city as the best destination for summer vacation, educational and cultural tours.
More visitors are also coming to the city in the month of August when the city celebrates the annual city fiesta.
Gatuslao pointed out that among the factors that greatly contribute to the influx of tourists in the city are its fair weather condition and strategic geographical location being the regional center of Northern Mindanao and the gateway to the island’s other provinces and cities.
The city’s top attraction, the whitewater rafting and other adventure tours remain to be the significant reason for visitors to come over aside from the city’s image as one of the most peaceful and orderly urbanized cities in the country.
Aside from the outdoor attraction of the city, its business climate and educational system can also be attributed to the influx of tourists who are in the city for business meetings and educational tours.
The number of tourists coming to Cagayan de Oro only shows that the city is a prime destination in this part of the country in tourism, business and education. (City Information Office/RAGCOM)
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I have been to different parts of the Philippines and traveling by air in Cagayan de Oro is by far, the worst. The security personnel of the city’s Lumbia Airport are very very rude and unfriendly. Just last week in my flight to Manila, the head security personnel barred my binoculars to be hand-carried. He said even laptops and digital cameras are not allowed inside the plane. I told him that these things are allowed to be hand-carry even in international airports and he replied “Sa Manila yun, Mindanao ito.†I had no choice but to leave the fate of my binoculars to the porters of the airport.
A friend of mine also had a bad experience in the said airport. She went to CDO for a vacation this October, and on the way home, was verbally harassed by the security personnel over a small basket of lanzones. Apparently, no baskets are allowed inside the aircrafts, according to them. They asked my friend repeatedly to go to the check-in counters of the aircraft and ask if the basket was allowed. Even though the aircraft crew assured the lady head security that such baggages are allowed inside the plane, she just bragged that they are the ones who have command in the airport.
On top of this, they do this we-have-our-own-rule thing in a very unfriendly manner, to the point of humiliating the passengers. Travelers like us have absolutely nothing against following the rules. But it would help a lot if these rules, whatever they are, will be explained in a manner that is not offensive or insulting
I sincerely hope the authorities and the local government of Cagayan and Misamis Oriental can do something about this so that they will not discourage the tourists. Such attitude does not fit a city that prides itself as the “Golden City of Friendship.â€
Rei Panaligan
kalagimay@yahoo.com