Camarines Sur leads tourist arrivals in Bicol

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Camarines Sur garnered the highest visitor arrivals among provinces of the Bicol Region in 2008 cornering 55.2 percent of the total tourist arrivals in the region.

Last year the total tourist arrivals in Bicol Region is 1,306,972 (Domestic 1,057,735; Foreign 249,237).

Department of Tourism (DOT) regional director Maria Ong-Ravanilla said the province had a total of 721.024 tourists who visited in 2008, an increase of 57.8 percent more than its 2007 level.

Of this number, 72.6 percent were domestic tourists while the rest were foreigners. The increase in foreign tourists though had surged to 332.7 percent in 2008, the highest increase in tourist arrivals among provinces in the region.

She said that Albay, which used to be the top tourist destination during the previous years, was edged out by Camarines Sur since 2006.

“It can be recalled that it was also in this year that the Camarines Sur Watersports Complex (CWC) started its operation,” Ravanilla said.

She explained that Camarines Sur is now the top tourist destination in the region based on reported tourist arrivals from the Department of Tourism.

In the past, Camarines Sur was only second to Albay in terms of tourist receipts. In 2005, tourist arrivals in Albay comprised 31.9 percent of the total tourist arrivals in the region while the share of Camarines Sur was 28.8 percent.

In 2006, Albay’s share in the total tourist receipts in the region dropped 11 percentage points. The rest of the provinces likewise posted decreases in tourist arrivals starting 2006 except for Sorsogon whose tourist arrivals started to drop in 2007.

On the other hand, the 28.8 percent share in tourist arrivals of Camarines Sur in 2005 dramatically rose to 40.6 percent in 2006. Catanduanes has the least number of tourists in the region in the region followed by Sorsogon and Camarines Norte respectively.

Most of the tourists who visited the region were domestic tourists. An influx of foreign tourists however was noted in all provinces except in Albay, which posted a decrease of 73.4 percent in 2008.

In 2007, foreign tourists in Albay consisted 25.8 percent of the total tourist receipts of the province, the highest among provinces during that year. In 2008, Camarines Sur topped the list of provinces in the region with the highest number of foreign tourists consisting of 27.4 percent of its total tourist receipts.

In contrast, Albay runs second to Masbate with the least proportion of foreign tourists to the total number of tourists in the provinces in 2008.

Foreign tourists in Albay comprised 5.6 percent of its total tourist receipts while Masbate had four percent.

Since 1981 until 2007, Americans dominated the tourists who go to the Bicol Region except in 1983 when there were more German than American tourists and during the years 1991-1995, and 2005 when there were more Japanese tourists than Americans.

In 2008 however, there were more French tourists than any other foreigner who came to Bicol. The French comprised 14.2 percent of the region’s total foreign tourist receipts while Americans comprised 10.9 percent. Also notable during this year was the influx of tourists from South Korea and China which comprised 8.4 and 5.8 percent respectively of the total foreign tourists.

Tourist arrivals in Bicol Region generally increased, posting 45.6 percent growth in 2008. While there were more domestic tourists than foreigners, domestic tourists increased by only 33.5 percent in 2008. Foreign tourists on the other hand increased by 136 percent.

Tourist receipts in all provinces of the region increased between 2007 and 2008, except in Catanduanes which decreased by 2.7 percent in 2008.

The province however had the highest proportion of foreign tourists to its total tourist receipts.

Data on tourist receipts can indicate how important tourism is to a province. Tourism can bring about employment and livelihood apart from income which can then be used for further investments or provision of social services. (PNA)

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