LAPU-LAPU and Cebu cities were the favorite destinations of foreign tourists when they visited Central Visayas in the first two months of the year.
According to the Department of Tourism (DOT), 83,084 foreign tourists stayed in Lapu-Lapu City while 55,856 spent their time in Cebu City during this period.
Both cities have five-star hotels, access to beaches, restaurants and malls, among others.
Some 12,237 foreign tourists also visited Mandaue City and towns in northern and southern Cebu.
“The top countryside destinations are Moalboal (1,768), San Fernando (1,130) and Medellin (1,076),” said Rowena Lu Y. Montecillo, DOT Central Visayas director.
The DOT also noted a 5.39-percent increase in tourist traffic in Central Visayas in January and February this year with 265,662 visitors as compared to 252,068 visitors in the same period last year.
Montecillo, however, said that there’s a slight decrease in the total domestic tourists who usually visit Cebu in January for the Sinulog celebration.
She said most of the domestic tourists skipped the Sinulog and went to Tacloban for the Pope Francis visit, which coincided with this year’s Sinulog festivities..
Total domestic travellers for the period reached only 118,488, a 13.17 percent decline from 136,453 in the same period last year.
TOP FOREIGN TOURISTS
For Central Visayas, Koreans remained the top group of foreign visitors for the period with 145,996 visiting the region.
They were followed by the Japanese (22.45 percent) and Americans (8.63 percent).
The Taiwanese, who ranked fourth, registered the highest growth rate of 559.03 percent. A total of 4,890 Taiwanese visited the region from only 742 visitors in 2014.
Chinese visitors were the fifth top group, registering a 2.99 percent growth.
Other foreign groups in the top 10 included those from Hong Kong (2.94 percent share), Australia (2.78 percent), United Kingdom (2.20 percent), Canada (2.13 percent) and France (1.52 percent). Foreign tourists increased 27.02 percent from only 114,941 last year.