DOT eyes 4.4M tourists in Central Visayas

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MANILA — The Department of Tourism is expecting 4.4 million tourists in Central Visayas this year following the renewed momentum from the industry.

“The momentum is once again on our side. We expect to post stellar growth this year as Cebu braces for more MICE (meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions) events,” said DOT-7 regional director Rowena Montecillo.

They are also eyeing for big ticket international meetings scheduled to be held in Cebu September this year.

Several ministerial meetings during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit are expected to be held in Cebu this year.

Apart from this, they are also seeing the launching of Visit Philippines Year to add to the continued growth of the tourism industry in Central Visayas.

This, Montecillo said, will boost the tourism sector and will provide more capital for the industry’s facilities throughout the country.

Because of the lined-up events in the country, 2015 will be considered as the “best MICE year of the Philippines” according to Montecillo.

Current DOT records showed that the region reached a total of 3.4 million tourists from January-November in 2014.

This shows a 6.86 percent increase compared with  the 3.2 million tourists recorded during the same period in 2013.

It also has recorded a total of 2,051,820 local arrivals, up by 4.96 percent.

Meanwhile, foreign tourist arrivals went up by 9.57 percent with 1,360,114 arrivals.