MindanaoToday.com | Normin tourism recovers, yet shy of pre-Covid level
By: Uriel Quilinguing
Tourism arrivals in Northern Mindanao was almost 2.6 million last year or a 56.29-percent increase over the 1.6 million in 2022, showing the region’s recovery from the dire effects of Covid-19 pandemic that shrunk the annual figures by 75 to 78 percent in 2020 and 2021.
Still, the total number tourists who visited the region in 2023 was 3.7-percent lower than the over 2.7 million visitors in 2019.
These form part of the Department of Tourism 10 report that Regional Director Marie Elaine Salvaña Unchuan presented at a Kapihan sa Bagong Pilipinas forum at the Mallberry Suites in Cagayan de Oro on Tuesday, July 9, under the auspices of the Presidential Communications Office and the Philippine Information Agency.
Unchuan said they have recorded 388,417 domestic and foreign tourists for the first six months this year—just barely 15 percent of last year’s total tourist arrivals, yet she remains optimistic the pre-pandemic level of 2.7 million tourist arrival can be reached and even surpassed.
She said it was heart-breaking to see closures of many tourism-related micro, small, and medium enterprises, and even more difficult for the thousands who lost their jobs and sources of livelihood during the pandemic. Thus, the DOT, she said, has waived all fees that they use to collect in the accreditation of tourism related enterprises.
Unchuan also assured applicants for DOT accreditation their requests will be acted upon within a week’s time, aside from orientations and trainings on how the region’s brand of excellent service could be delivered.
Domestic tourism, she said, has been their focus when they diversify their tourism fortfolio, pushed for Mindanao island-wide interregional tour circuits, and tourism infrastructures—from opening of new road to construction of rest areas, from expansion of existing airport and completion of new ones, and the inauguration of the Panguil Bay Bridge that could greatly ease movement of people and transport of goods.
Aside from natural and man-made tourist destinations, DOT-10’s tourism fortfolio includes varied sports such as diving, biking, paragliding, hot-air balloon, ultra-runs and triathlons, dragon-boat racing, white-water rafting; agri-tourism; historical, religious and cultural festivals; wellness; and education.
She admitted though embassy travel advisories affect the decisions of foreign tourists which localities in Mindanao to visit. This includes the reluctance of insurance companies to cover trips to areas under travel restrictions by foreign embassies in the country. (MT)
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