TOURIST arrivals in Bacolod City, both for domestic and foreign, increased by 0.5 percent in 2018, with Americans still topping the lists of foreign visitors.
Ma. Elma Gerasmo, city tourism officer, said from January to December last year, a total of 835, 453 tourists arrived in the city compared to 831, 687 tourists in 2017.
“So we have an increase of 3,766 tourists or 0.5 percent,” Gerasmo said, adding that “we expect that the arrival will also increase this year.”
Of the total arrival, 754, 944 are domestic and 80, 840 are foreign tourists.
The 2017 tourist arrivals, meanwhile, comprised 756, 104 domestic and 75, 583 foreign visitors.
Gerasmo said that in terms of foreign visitors, 13,050 Americans were catered by the city last year.
They were followed by visitors from Korea, 11, 783; Japan - 7, 394; Russia - 5,802; China - 4, 261; Australia - 4,119; Canada - 2, 595; Germany - 1, 979; India - 1,715; and United Kingdom - 1, 624.
In 2017, Americans also topped as foreign visitors in Bacolod City with 11, 465 tourist arrivals.
Gerasmo said there are 79 accommodation establishments in the city. These are comprised of first class hotels, standard, economy, tourist inn, pension house, resort, and apartelle.
“Foreign visitors were attracted to visit Bacolod because of its popularity, mainly due to the MassKara Festival, as well as its awards such as most livable city in the Philippines and most business-friendly city among others,” she said.
In 2017, Bacolod was the grand winner in the Top Philippine Model City Awards, the first edition of the contest of The Manila Times.
Gerasmo said in 2018, Bacolod also hosted several big events including those national and international gatherings.
“We will continue our efforts to improve our tourism development and promotion measures to attract more tourists. The more visitors we have, the better for Bacolod’s economy,” she added.