Surigao Mayor bares increase of tourist arrivals in Surigao City

There’s a "remarkable increase" in the number of tourist arrivals who visited Surigao City last year according to City Mayor Ernesto Matugas during his first State of Local Governance Report on Thursday, May 5, 2011.

Matugas said a total of 145,739 tourists arrived in 2010, substantially higher by 27.48 percent from 114,324 in 2009.

“Foreign tourist arrivals posted a much higher increase of 31.21 percent,” said Matugas.
Matugas said the number of meetings and conferences also increased by 10.47 percent and 24.61 percent, respectively.

The significant growth according to the city mayor was driven by many factors such as the aggressive tourism marketing and promotion, the introduction of scuba diving as a new tourism product, and the resumption of regular flights to Manila and Cebu.

Matugas said the estimated income from tourism last year totaled more than P4.372 billion.
Matugas thanked the private sector for helping transform the city into a more tourist-friendly locality. “I am thankful that our major hotels like Tavern, Gateway and Almont have responded and undertaken the necessary improvements.”

Latest data from the City Tourism Office revealed that the total number of rooms grew by 8.86% from 598 in 2009 to 651 in 2010 with the opening of new tourist inns like E.Y. Pensionne, RSY Pensionne, among others. “Occupancy rate continued to rise with the average of 33.72 percent compared in 2009 with only 27.61 percent,” Matugas added.

Matugas said tourism sector is expected to further grow this year with the aggressive promotion of private sector investments for commercial and industrial development and with the entry of major names in business like Gaisano Capital, Citi Hardware, Unicity, and Davao Central Warehouse in the city. (PIA-Surigao del Norte)

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