2M tourists visit Negros Occidental

A tourism official here said the tourism industry in Negros Occidental has rebounded after registering 2 million tourists in 2023 and posting P6 billion in revenues, data from the Provincial Tourism Office showed.

Provincial tourism officer Cheryl Decena said on Monday, February 5, that the partial number represents an increase of 36 percent compared to 2022.

Decena said in 2023 there were 692,190 overnight tourist arrivals compared to 510,022 in 2022.

“For day visitors, we are at 75 percent of our expected reports, but we surpassed our targets already,” she said.

Overnight guests spend for accommodations, food, transportation and souvenir items.

Decena said that 1.7 million day excursionists arrived in the province in 2022 and 2 million in 2023.

“We expect the numbers to go higher when all the numbers are in from the cities and municipalities,” she added.

“With the double-digit growth, we can safely say that we have fully recovered,” she said.

Decena said they are trying to capacitate accommodation establishments for them to serve local tourists and foreigners.

The top 10 tourist destinations in Negros Occidental in 2022, as officially declared by the Department of Tourism-Western Visayas, are the Ruins and Campuestuhan in Talisay; Magikland in Silay City; Sipaway Island in San Carlos City; Mambukal in Murcia; Tomongtong Eco Trail in EB Magalona; City Resort in Victorias City; Lakawon in Cadiz City; Otirasor in Himamaylan City; and Guintubdan in La Carlota City.

In terms of tourist arrivals, local government units with the greatest number of tourist arrivals also include the cities of Sipalay, San Carlos, Kabankalan, Silay, Cadiz and Talisay. Decena said the tourism programs in these cities are in place.

Ten percent of the tourists who visited the province, excluding highly urbanized Bacolod City, are mostly citizens of the United States, Korea, Germany, Canada, Australia, China and Japan, she said.