A fisherman feeds a whale shark with krill in Oslob town, southern Cebu while a tourist watches in awe in this August 2018 photo.
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The island province of Cebu welcomed over 540,000 foreign tourists for the year 2022, data from the tourism department showed.
The Department of Tourism (DOT) recently released its 2022 Overnight Arrival Report that showed Cebu had accommodated over 2.7 million tourists, both local and foreign, in the previous year. Several local government units (LGUs) here also published the summary of the report on their official media channels.
Domestic tourist arrivals account for approximately 81 percent, at 2,210,664. The rest, at 544,290, were foreign tourist arrivals.
The report also ranked local government units (LGUs) here in terms of tourist arrivals, with the tri-cities still claiming the top three spots.
The capital Cebu City emerged at the number one spot after it posted 1,063,503 tourist arrivals for 2022. The city also has the highest number of foreign tourist arrivals among all 50 LGUs in Cebu, at 221,983.
Cebu City was followed by Lapu-Lapu City, where the Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) is located, as it welcomed 584,872 tourists, then Mandaue City with 369,416 tourists.
Santa Fe in Bantayan Island, one of Cebu’s most popular beach destinations, ranked 4th after it welcomed 134,770 tourists last year.
Daanbantayan and Moalboal, both also favorite tourist spots, landed on the 5th and 6th spots respectively.
While it only recorded 62 foreign tourists, the town of Dalaguete in southeastern Cebu ranked 7th after it posted 40,591 domestic tourist arrivals for 2022. It surpassed Oslob, known for its whale shark watching activities, which landed on the 8th spot with 40,648 tourist arrivals, both local and foreign.
Rounding up the top 10 destinations are the cities of Bogo and Toledo.
Cebu is one of the country’s most popular tourist destinations as it hosts not only stretches of fine, white-sand beaches but also world-famous diving spots, water sports like canyoneering, and other outdoor activities. /rcg
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