By Restituto Cayubit TACLOBAN CITY – The province of Leyte was the province in Eastern Visayas most visited by tourists last year. Rodel Balierbare, DOT regional tourism operation officer and in-charge of tourism statistics, told Manila Bulletin that the province continues to have the highest number of tourists among the provinces and cities in the region. Balierbare said 1.51 million local and foreign tourists visited Eastern Visayas, and 971,000 of them went to Leyte; 212,189 to Samar; 142,970 to Southern Leyte, 83, 433 to Northern Samar, 78, 422 to Eastern Samar, and 23,297 to Biliran. Tourist receipts in the region reached to P13.97 billion in 2017, an increase from the P11.68 billion in 2016. Among foreign tourists, North Americans had the highest volume of with 24.77 percent, followed by East Asians with 11.88 percent, Europeans with 8.86 percent, Australasians with 6.45 percent and Asians with 1.76 percent. Balierbare said that for next year DOT is targeting 2.10 million visitors for the region, and for year 2020, about 2.51 million. He said the rise in tourist arrivals is being complemented with the implementation of infrastructure programs and tourism industry skills program (TISP). He added that under the Tourism Road Infrastructure Program (TRIP), 29 roads to tourism sites were allocated a budget of P1.84 billion this year.