TOURIST arrivals in Davao City have increased by 13.2 percent to 459,104 in the first quarter of 2017 from 405,576 in the same period last year.
"During the first quarter we hosted the Asean opening as well as several Asean meetings. That's the main reason for the increase of arrivals," said Generose Tecson, head of the City Tourism Operations Office, in a text message to SunStar Davao.
It can be recalled that during the first quarter of this year, aside from the launch of Philippines' Asean chairmanship, Davao City also hosted a series of major international events like the ancillary event of the Miss Universe 2016 pageant and Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's state visit to the Philippines.
According to the data provided by the Davao City Investment and Promotions Center (DCIPC), there was a 14.44 percent increase of domestic tourist arrivals to 423,714 first quarter 2017 from 370,253 first quarter of 2016.
Data from DCIPC also revealed that there is a slight decrease of .05 percent in foreign tourist arrivals to 29,889 from the recorded 29,904 last year.
There was also an increase in the arrival of Overseas Filipino Workers or Balikbayans to 5,501 in the first quarter of 2017 from 5,419 in the same period last year.