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11% hike in tourist influx recorded in 2004
by R. Nessia
Dumaguete City (29 June 2005) -- Tourists from USA and other countries continue to be drawn to Dumaguete City as the City Tourism Office reported an increase of 11 percent in tourist influx last year compared to 2003 statistics.

A total of 140,038 tourist arrivals were recorded last year.

The bulk of tourist arrivals in Dumaguete are domestic tourists numbering 124,273 in 2004, followed by foreign tourists with15,765.

According to Annie Jalandoni, City Tourism Operations Officer 2, Americans topped the list of foreign tourist arrivals last year numbering 3,819, followed by Japanese tourists with 3,173 and Koreans with 1,824.

Jalandoni said German tourists used to be the third biggest number of foreign tourists in the city, but have been outranked by the Koreans whose arrivals have increased recently.

The Department of Tourism reported that American tourists and other foreigners continued to visit the Philippines amid the spate of adverse travel advisories warning them against visiting the country on security concerns.

DOT has also recently begun issuing 14-day visas-upon-arrival to Chinese tourists after the government made China one of its priority tourism markets.

However, Jalandoni noted a slight decrease in tourist influx for the first four months this year compared to the same period last year.

From January to April this year, local tourists only totaled to 39,554 and foreign tourists, 6,031.

The tourism officer said the small drop in tourist influx might be due to economic downturn. "A couple of hotels and lodging houses have closed recently while others are not doing very well," says Jalandoni.

She is however hopeful that tourist arrivals will pick up in the coming months. (PIA)

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