TOURIST arrivals in Davao City have increased by 16.89 percent to 342,077 as of February 2018 from 292,653 covering the first two months of the year.
During the I-Speak forum held at the Davao City Information Office Conference Room on Thursday, April 12, Generose Tecson, officer-in-charge of the Davao City Tourism Operations Office (CTOO), said there was a 13.85 percent increase in tourist arrivals in January 2018 at 169,638 tourists as compared to the tourist arrivals on the same period last year at 149,000.
There was also a 20 percent increase in February 2018 with 172,439 tourists from the 143,589 tourist arrivals February of last year.
Tecson said the data was based on the report of hotel occupancies in the city. The number was further increased by the conferences and seminars conducted in the city attended by delegates from different parts of the country.
To further increase the tourist arrivals throughout the year, CTOO will strengthen their promotions of the city, as well as assisting the promotion of Davao region as a Mice (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions) destination.
In an earlier published article, Tecson said they are happy that the MICE events in the city are no longer seasonal and that there are booked huge conventions monthly in the city.
"In tourism, people come and go [but] in tourism… we need to connect and promote places [so they keep coming back]," Tecson said, supporting her statement that the effort to promote Davao as a MICE destination is for the whole region.
She also mentioned that there is already an existing Barangay Tourism Culture and Arts Council (BTCAC), however it is not fully implemented as of the moment.
If finally implemented in each barangay in the city, Tecson said BTCAC can actually work with the community, especially the Lumads, and the task force for rehabilitating resorts and other tourist establishments. (Brisbane Q. Titular, Father Saturnino Urios University intern)