Iloilo City welcomed 418, 079 tourists in the first seven months of 2019, partial data from the Department of Tourism (DOT-6) showed.
Domestic visitors accounted for 400, 630 of the total number of tourist arrivals while foreigners tallied 17, 439.
These tourists spent some P7.8 billion during their stay in the city.
Of the foreign visitors, 5, 235 were from the USA, 1,757 from South Korea, 1,675 from China, 899 from Canada, and 816 from Australia.
The city ranked second in the whole Western Visayas in terms of tourist arrivals. The province of Aklan, home to world-famous Boracay Island, remained on top with 1, 103, 334.
Bacolod City came in third with 396, 647 tourist arrivals, followed by Negros Occidental, 221, 057; Capiz, 95, 616; Guimaras, 68, 636; Antique, 34, 728; and Iloilo province, 34, 650.
All in all, the region had 2, 518, 045 domestic and foreign tourists from January to July this year.
Last year, the DOT-6 recorded a total of 4, 955, 898 tourists.
Lawyer Helen J. Catalbas, DOT-6 director, said tourism statistics is “important in the development of their tourism action plans.”
“Statistics serves as the basis of the local government units where to anchor their tourism development plan and product development. These data help enhance existing tourism products, services and destinations as well as develop new ones to draw more tourists coming in the area,” she explained.IMT
