TOURIST arrivals in Davao City are slowly gaining momentum as the City Tourism Operations Office (CTOO) hopes to log a total of at least one million arrivals for 2022, CTOO officer-in-charge Julieta Catacutan said.
During a media forum on September 29, Catacutan said as of August this year, there have been 529, 551 tourist arrivals since January and they are hoping for at least 400,000 more for the remaining fourth quarter of the year.
“Ang main goal karon ay ang tourist arrivals kay expected gyud na naay influx considering na hapit na ang (Undas) and ang Christmas season (Our main goal is the tourist arrivals [will increase] because we are expecting an influx considering that Undas and Christmas season are near). We are expecting a lot of tourists coming in,” she said.
Of the 529,551 arrivals, 502,650 are Filipinos from outside of Davao City, 23,400 are foreigners, and 3,501 are balikbayans. They are in the city usually for business, visiting family and friends, or are Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs).
Since 2013, Davao City had the highest number of tourist arrivals in 2019 with 2,573,990 but drastically declined to 618,034 in 2020 and 317,804 in 2021 because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
During this time, Filipinos still made up most of the tourist arrivals, followed by foreigners then OFWs.
In line with this, Catacutan said the city is ready to accommodate the influx of tourists.
“Mga 95 percent na ang nag operate sa ating mga hotel accommodations (Around 95 percent of our hotel accommodations are already operating) and they are closely monitored also by the CTO as to the influx of tourists arrivals na ma-accommodate sila tanan (to accommodate everyone),” she said.
The OIC also reminded hotels and other business establishments to settle their business permits or ensure that their establishment is accredited to avoid inconvenience and possible penalties once the tourists and the busy season arrive. ICM