Nearly 1M tourists visit Central Visayas; return to pre-pandemic levels eyed in 2025

ALMOST one million foreign and local tourists visited Central Visayas in the first half of 2022, auguring well for the country’s tourism industry, which aims to return to pre-pandemic levels by 2025, tourism officials said.Some 962,418 tourists visited the region from January to June, of whom 889,315 were locals and 73,103 were foreigners, Tourism Undersecretary Shahlimar Tamano said during the “Go Explore Cebu: Tourism Summit” held in Cebu City on Thursday, Aug. 11, 2022,Tamano, who is concurrent regional director, said this development proves that the revival of the tourism industry in the region is underway.The Department of Tourism (DOT) aims to increase the number of visitors to the region by 300,000 before the year ends. Central Visayas groups Cebu, Bohol, Negros Oriental and Siquijor.“Central Visayas is ready and open for tourism… And we’re excited in the coming days under the new administration and new Secretary (Christina Frasco) of the DOT,” said Tamano.Apart from Cebu, the province of Bohol is also a favorite tourist destination in the region.During the tourism summit held at SM Seaside City Cebu, Tourism Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco projected that the Philippine tourism industry will return to its pre-pandemic levels in 2025 after peaking at more than 12 percent contribution to the country’s gross domestic product before the Covid-19 pandemic struck in 2020.Last March, Bureau of Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente said the Philippines recorded 16.9 million international arrivals in 2019, before pandemic restrictions brought arrivals down to 3.6 million in 2020, and further down to 1.4 million in 2021.Frasco said the Philippines currently ranks sixth in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Region and 75th in the world in the ranking of the most visited countries in terms of tourism.“Considering the beauty and quality of our offerings, as well as the warmth of our people, we are not simply satisfied with regaining our sixth position and 75th global position. We want our standing to far exceed the present position,” Frasco said.ChallengesThe DOT has identified the following as the major challenges faced by the tourism sector: limited gateway access, lack of tourism infrastructure, inadequate attention on health and safety concerns, and the significant economic decline in the industry.To address these challenges, Frasco said the agency will employ three major strategies: Connectivity, Convenience, and E(Quality).Connectivity will focus on the DOT collaborating with the Department of Public Works and Highways, Department of Transportation, and the Department of Information and Communications Technology for the enhancement and construction of highway, bridges, airports and seaport facilities, and improvement of internet connectivity.Convenience will focus on easing travel restrictions and ensuring uniformity of protocols, enhancing overall tourist experience, introducing tourist service centers, and improving medical and health facilities.Finally, the secretary said that under E(Quality), the DOT will revisit the accreditation policy, ensuring that the standards of quality in the tourism industry will be followed. (ANV / TPT, EHP)