NEGROS Occidental is the second most visited place in the country by Filipino domestic travelers, results of the 2016 Household Survey on Domestic Visitors (HSDV) recently released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) and Department of Tourism (DOT) showed.
Behind National Capital Region, Negros Occidental outranked Pangasinan, Cavite, Quezon, Bohol, Cebu, Camarines Sur, Laguna, and Leyte in the list of top 10 most visited places.
The HSDV, conducted every two years since 2005, is aimed at gathering data on domestic and outbound travels mainly for policy making purposes.
It is also undertaken to measure the volume of domestic and international visitors, identify the travel patterns of the household members age 15 years old and above, and estimate the extend and economic contribution of domestic and international visitors in the country.
Cristine Mansinares, provincial supervising tourism operations officer, said on Wednesday, July 12, being tagged as one of the favorite destinations in the country is a big boost to the tourism industry of Negros Occidental.
She the survey results validate that the provincial government’s marketing efforts are on the right track.
“Under our Negros First Agenda, tourism promotion and development with the help of the private sector is one of the top priorities,” Mansinares said, adding that 96 percent of the province’s tourist arrivals are domestic.
Moreover, the survey, which was administered to around 18,000 households with reference period covering April to September last year, showed that 69 percent of the travelers were day visitors.
The remaining 31 percent comprised overnight visitors with an average stay of five nights. They spent money most on transportation, shopping, and food and beverages.
In terms of purpose of visit, the PSA and DOT reported that most travels were made for pleasure and vacation, followed by visiting friends and relatives, and religion or pilgrimage.
Most frequent type of accommodations, meanwhile, included home of friends and relatives, resorts and hotels.
As this developed, the Provincial Government recognized the need for Negros Occidental, especially its developing sites, to be more prepared so that it can maintain and further sustain its growing tourism industry.
Mansinares said they are working more on professionalizing the industry by extending the capacity-building for tourism stakeholders.
“We are doing a series of trainings, including tour guiding and farm tourism orientation until November,” she said, adding that this is aimed to further capacitate tourism personnel and frontliners and residents of community where tourism sites are located. (PNA with reports from EPN)