By Minerva Newman
DUMAGUETE CITY-- Tourists arrivals in Dumaguete City for 2019 numbered 845, 612, which was 20 percent higher than the 706,689 arrivals in 2018. Nearly 60,000 of these were foreign tourists and the rest were Philippine residents.
Dumaguete City Tourism Officer Jacqueline Antonio said that, with the increase of tourists, hotel occupancy rate also hiked by 10 percent in the same period based on the data provided by 70 hotels in the city.
Antonio said that average occupancy rate of hotels and resorts in 2018 was at
76 percent and rose to 86.4 percent in 2019 and it does not include AirBn accommodations.
Dumaguete Mayor Felipe Antonio Remollo stressed the importance of the city’s sports tourism program that continues to attract more visitors which in turn provides more jobs and income for the businesses and small entrepreneurs.
Dumaguete City is the gateway to different popular tourist destinations in Negros Oriental. Among the most visited sites in the city are the Rizal Boulevard, Sillman University, Belltower and the Cathedral, Remollo added.
Other popular destinations in the province include Dolphin Watching in Bais City, Balinsasayao Twin Lakes in Sibulan, Mabinay Caves in Mabinay town, Apo Island in Dauin, Balanan Lake in Siaton, Casaroro Falls in Valencia, and White Sandbar in Manjuyod.
According to Antonio that in 2019 the top ten countries of origin of foreign visitors in Dumaguete were the United States of America, China, Japan, Korea, Canada, Hongkong, Australia, Germany, Spain and United Kingdom.