Streetdancing contestants perform during the Indak-indak sa Kadayawan 2023 along the streets of Davao City on Saturday, 19 August 2023. Davao City’s Kadayawan Festival is one of the major tourism attractions in the region. The DOT-11 expects tourism arrivals in the region to reach four million in 2024. MindaNews file photo by MANMAN DEJETO
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 04 July) — Tourist arrivals in the Davao region are expected to reach four million this year, an official said.
The target for 2024 is 80 percent higher than the record in 2023, which saw 3,228,035 tourist arrivals.
Tanya Tan-Rabat, Department of Tourism – 11 (DOT-11) director, expressed confidence they can hit the target tourist arrivals in the region this year.
“In the first quarter of this year, our tourist arrivals already increased compared to the same period last year. This is (a) good (sign) for us,” she told MindaNews at the sidelines of Wednesday’s Habi at Kape media forum at the Abreeza Mall here.
Tourist arrivals for the first quarter of 2024 reached 749,647, up 1.12 percent from the 741,329 arrivals recorded in the first quarter of 2023, data from DOT-11 showed.
Davao City posted the highest tourist arrivals with 370,145 in 2024, which is an increase of at least 42 percent from 259,960 last year.
Next is Davao de Oro, which saw an increase of 21.31 percent from 161,152 in the first quarter of 2023 to 195,487 for the same period this year, and Davao Del Norte from 69,237 to 96,105, up 38.78 percent.
On the other hand, tourist arrivals for the two comparative periods in the other Davao provinces decreased.
Davao del Sur went down from 49,793 to 11,486, a decrease of 76.93 percent; Davao Occidental from 5,684 to 2,595, down 54 percent; and Davao Oriental from 195,503 to 73,829, a decrease of 62.23 percent.
Tan noted that in 2023, the Davao region exceeded its target of three million tourist arrivals.
The region welcomed 3,228,035 travelers last year. From such number, 3,124,561 were domestic tourists while 103,474 were from other countries, DOT-11 data said.
The tourism official said that to attract more tourists to the region, they are planning to conduct business missions promoting the region’s tourism potentials and revisit the area’s tourism circuit for possible improvement, among others.
She attributed the region’s tourism growth to the diversified portfolio of tourism experiences in the area, including the hosting of various local and international events.
Tan led the promotion of Davao Adventure Challenge’s Maragusan, Davao de Oro leg during the weekly Wednesday press conference here. The adventure challenge aims to highlight “the thrill of trekking” within the region. The three-day Maragusan leg will start tomorrow, July 5.
The challenge was launched last April during the Mindanao Tourism Expo in Cagayan de Oro, which seeks to promote the region as an adventure destination.
The leg involves visiting two falls in Maragusan, Davao de Oro. The DOT-11 describes this experience as “discovering the stunning three-tier cascades of Tagbibinta, and the majestic high falls at Pyalitan.”
“Tourism, when managed carefully and responsibly, can be a powerful ally in efforts on conservation and preservation. It enforces tourism to be a force for good and promotes responsible tourism,” Tan said. (Ian Carl Espinosa/MindaNews)