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2004 tourist arrivals in WV higher than previous year's

By Leny G. Gabo

The Department of Tourism (DOT VI) reported a big increase in tourist arrivals in 2004 compared to 2003.

Partial record from the DOT shows that there were a total of 918,153 total arrivals in the region last year. Some provinces have not yet submitted their report to the regional office. Domestic tourists dominated the list with a total of 741,690.

Meanwhile, overseas Filipinos who arrived last year totaled 29,775. There are also recorded tourists in unspecified residences with the total of 2,950.

The total foreign tourists recorded have reached to 146,688. The East Asian people recorded the highest number of arrivals with 96,590. It is followed by Europeans with a total of 22,835 while tourists from North America totaled 17,936. Tourists from Oceania recorded 3,106 and from Asean nations 2,194.

Koreans topped the list of foreign tourists by region which tallied 82,293.

DOT-VI also registered a total tourist receipts last year of P16,878,773,859.40, roughly 18.44% higher than that of year 2003 which was P13, 403,925,208.

The occupancy rate in 2004 are as follows: in first class hotels is 49.11%, standard 40.71%, economy 18.09%, pension or inns 21.93% and in resorts 18.63%.

Meanwhile, the DOT noted that hotels, pension houses and resorts in Aklan and Iloilo are getting fully booked for the upcoming Ati-atihan and Dinagyang festival, respectively.