Journeys
Fruits of a 12-month journey
The year 2006 was another fruitful journey for the Department of Tourism Region 6 office in Western Visayas and its 12-man personnel complement headed by Director Edwin G. Trompeta. Journeys yields its space to report the office's accomplishments for the year that was.
DOT Region VI undertook a total of 60 tourism promotional and marketing projects, extended technical and financial assistance to/coordinated different festivals and special events aimed to project Western Visayas as a desirable tourist destination and promote positive tourism image in its area of responsibility. The list includes Dinagyang, Ati-Atihan, The International Funboard Cup, Pasungay, Candelaria, Salakayan, Kali-Kalihan, Babaylan, Pintados, Iloilo Paraw Regatta, Bantayan, Panaad, Aklan Fiber Festival, Ang Pagtaltal sa Guimaras and Barotac Viejo, Tampisaw, Buling-Bulingan, Binirayan Festival, Carabao-Carroza Race, Katadman, Manggahan, Kansilay, Mudpack Festival, Philippine Travel Mart and the 8-event one week Western Visayas Regional Tourism Assembly among many others.
Inspection and accreditation of tourism businesses and enterprises as a regular DOT VI function resulted to 260 establishments inspected, 2 applications processed and 86 accreditation certificates issued.
For the period under report, Western Visayas played host to 1,139,500 (partial) visitor arrivals, 952,925 of which were domestic and 186,575 were foreign tourists with estimated receipts of P20,947,884,300.00.
Collateral promotional materials produced during the period totalled 71,682 even as the office assisted 10,317 office callers, issued 73 press releases to tri-media outlets and assisted 369 local, national and foreign media persons.
In terms of information technology, DOT Region VI replied/acted on 986 e-mail queries from local, national and international markets. The DOT VI website (http://www.westernvisayastourism.com.ph) was visited 1706 times during the period under report..
Tourist Arrivals: (Partial Report) |
2006 |
2005 |
%Increase/Decrease |
Foreign |
186,575 |
228,346 |
-18.29% |
Domestic |
952,925 |
1,371,324 |
-30.51% |
Visitor arrivals recorded for this period is lower compared to last year's figures. This can be attributed to the partial reports submitted by the TOEs. It is, however, expected that the total tourist arrival figures shall increase as soon as all resorts, hotels and other accommodation establishment will have submitted their reports.
Hotel occupancy rates posted an increase in the first class and standard class categories while economy class category has decreased compared to last year's figure:
2006 |
2005 |
|
1st Class Hotel |
56.53% |
50.94% |
Standard Class |
51.02% |
48.06% |
Economy Class |
18.96% |
21.16% |
Boracay Island is still the number one tourist destination within the region. It has posted a 10.96% increase in tourist arrivals for both local and foreign visitors with 554,181 total arrivals for 2006 against the total arrivals of 499,457 in 2005.