Koreans still top tourists in Cebu

Sunday, December 19, 2010

KOREANS made up 33 percent of the total tourist arrivals in Central Visayas for the January to September period.

A six percent increase was seen in the tourist arrivals compared to the same period last year.

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Some 1.3 million tourists arrived in the region, which is slightly higher than the 1.2 million who arrived during the same period in 2009.

Despite the black alert for the entire Philippines issued by the Outbound Travel Advisory of Hong Kong, Central Visayas saw a nine percent increase in Hong Kong tourist arrivals. Hong Kong tourists made up three percent or 19,364 of the total number of tourists who visited the region.

The travel advisory came after a hostage-taking crisis led to the death of nine Hong Kong tourists and the Filipino hostage-taker. The gripping hostage drama was aired live on international news programs and outraged Hong Kong officials.

Hong Kong ranked fifth in the travel market in Cebu.

DOT 7 Director Rowena Montecillo said that they are hoping to increase the Chinese tourist market.

Aside from Hong Kong, tourists from the People’s Republic of China reached 33,745, a 17.80 percent increase from the 28,645 Chinese tourists who arrived for the same period last year.

Montecillo said she met with a Chinese consul recently who agreed to help the DOT 7 sell certain attractions of Central Visayas to the Chinese market.

After the Sinulog festival, a familiarization tour is being planned with a Chinese official, who will identify which of the tour destinations will be of interest to Chinese travelers.

Montecillo added that they will also help with the translation of English materials to Mandarin to better reach the Chinese audience.

After the Koreans, Japanese tourists made up 22.22 percent or 117,485 of the total number of arrivals. The figure grew 11.21 percent from the 105,642 Japanese tourists who arrived in 2009.

Top markets

The top travel markets in Cebu are Korea, Japan, USA, Canada, China, Hong Kong, Australia, United Kingdom, Germany, Canada and Singapore.

Americans made up 51,483 of all the arrivals for the period, which grew 15.86 percent from last year’s 44,436.

Tourists from South East Asian neighbors made up 2.10 percent or 11,129 of the tourist arrivals. Singapore had the most number of tourists from the Asean region, with 5,791.

Most of the tourists came from the East Asian region, which comprises China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea and Taiwan. Combined, they made up 355,116 or 67.16 percent of the total. Tourists from this area grew 16.07 percent.