Sun.Star Cebu <> Friday, Jan. 23, 2008
BY NANCY R. CUDIS, Sun.Star Staff Reporter
THE Northern Mindanao Region is eyeing Cebu’s accessibility to other provinces as a way to increase the number of visitors coming into its tourist destinations.
Last Thursday, the region opened an exhibit at the pre-departure area of the Mactan Cebu International Airport, featuring the different sites and packages offered by Northern Mindanao.
“We are planning to increase our share of the tourists coming in to Cebu. In my opinion, we (currently) get 10 percent of the tourists who would come to Cebu and eventually visit our sites,” said DOT 10 director Catalino Chan.
He noted that tourists spend less in Cebu than in Manila. For Region 10, this means that tourists would still have strong spending power when they decide to visit neighboring areas, like Cagayan de Oro.
Cebuano visitors
Chan noted that Northern Mindanao, which he describes as safe with very low criminality rate, has an average annual hotel occupancy rate of 84 percent.
About 23 percent of Region 10’s tourists are Cebuanos while the rest include other domestic travelers, especially coming from Manila and Bacolod. The region’s foreign tourists include Koreans and Americans, among others.
“(Most) of them are repeaters so they are not afraid of advisories because they know it is safe there (Northern Mindanao),” Chan said.
He also noted that several local private companies would sign up for Cagayan de Oro’s whitewater rafting activities for teambuilding purposes.
Region 10, which is comprised of five provinces (Camiguin, Misamis Oriental, Misamis Occidental, Lanao del Norte and Bukidnon) boasts of natural attractions, like caves, wildlife and other eco-tourism sites.
“We are the fifth biggest tourist destination in 2007 in terms of domestic and foreign arrivals. We don’t have an international airport yet but we only have a small difference in arrivals compared to Davao,” Chan said.
He disclosed that Northern Mindanao will soon have a international airport by 2010 and a convention center that can accommodate 5,000 people. Both facilities will be based in Cagayan de Oro.
ALL PHOTOS BY NANCY R. CUDIS/nrcportfolio.wordpress.com
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