Accommodation establishments not submitting occupancy report

A CITY official said Tuesday that it is difficult to quantify how many tourists are visiting Davao City a year, as almost half of the accommodation establishments owners are not submitting occupancy reports.

Davao City Investment Promotions Center (DCPIC) chief Jason Magnaye, in a business forum held Tuesday at DermPath at SM City Davao, said the submission rate of the hotels, inns, and pension houses in the city was pegged at 51 percent in 2012, only a little higher than 46 percent in 2011.

With low submission rate, it's even harder to figure out the year-on-year growth in terms of tourist arrivals both in the city and in Davao Region.

In a previous report, Magnaye, citing Department of Tourism (DOT) records, said there were a total of 1.5 million tourists in Davao region, most of them came from Davao City with 1.075 tourists.

Koreans, Japanese, Australians, and Chinese were among the top visitors of the city last year.

He said, though, that the data gathered cannot be compared "apples to apples," as the real number could even be higher only if the accommodation establishments in the city are submitting monthly occupancy reports.

In a text message, Magnaye added there are about 7,000 rooms, translating to 176 accommodation establishments operating in the city, but almost half of them are not submitting the needed reports.

The total number of tourist arrivals is only based on the reports submitted by few accommodation establishments.

"Kung maraming dumadating, it's successful. In the absence of this report, we cannot say we're doing good," Magnaye said earlier.

This also prompted the tourism department to stop ranking the cities by tourist arrivals.

"What if only few accommodation establishments submit reports in this city while the other have many?" Magnaye said.

He said the occupancy rate for the first two months of the year was pegged at 56 percent. This is expected to increase in the coming months in time for summer season.

With a more accurate tourism statistic, Magnaye said they would know if they are doing effectively their promotional strategies in selling Davao to both domestic and foreign tourists.

Meanwhile, Magnaye said they are expecting 15 percent growth in the number of rooms in the city in order to cater more tourists, especially now that it is poised as the next Meetings, Incentives, Conventions, Events/Exhibitions hub in the country.