Tourist arrivals in Cebu up 9% in Jan-Feb period

Tourist arrivals in Cebu rose 9% in the first two months of 2015, indicating a continued growth of the province’s tourism industry.

Latest data from the Central Visayas’ Department of Tourism (DOT 7) showed that Cebu logged 550,452 tourists during the January-February 2015 period, up 8.54% from 507,162 in the same period last year.

During the first two months foreign visitors in Cebu significantly grew 31.25% to 298,943 from 227,771 last year.

But the number of local tourists declined sharply by 10.39% from 278,028 last year to 249,148 this year.

Cebu City recorded majority of the domestic arrivals at 75%, followed by LapuLapu City (15%), Cebu Province (7%) and Mandaue City (3%).

The Sinulog Festival in January was a major contributor to the increased arrivals in Cebu City.

On the other hand, foreign arrivals were mostly recorded in Lapu-Lapu City, taking 58% of the total foreign arrival market. Lapu-Lapu is then followed by Cebu City (36%), Cebu Province (5%) and Mandaue City (1%).

CV ARRIVALS Visitor arrivals in January-February period in the whole Central Visayas, which comprises Negros Oriental, Bohol, Siquijor and Cebu posted a 10.52% rise from 654,109 in 2014 to 722,937 this year.

The market share of foreign tourists for the region's tourism sector was 49.46%, nearing the 50.02% share of the domestic visitors.

Koreans still accounted almost half of the foreign market at 45.40%, followed by Japan (17.68%), USA (10.02%), China (4.57%), Australia (3.82%) and Canada (2.60%).

Last year CV tourist arrivals went up 16% to 4.03 million from 3.5 million in 2013, hitting its 3.6-million 2014 target.

This year the DOT 7 is bent on achieving its 4.4-million tourist arrival target.